Here’s my confession: I’m an imperfect mom, and often an ineffective parent. Most of the time I feel like I’m flailing along, trying to “get it right”– and as soon as I do, my son hits a whole new phase and the process starts all over again. There’s nothing like being a parent to humble you!

So Mother’s Day is a bittersweet time. Yes, I love the hugs and home made cards, the burnt pancakes and fresh-squeezed orange juice complete with seeds and bits of peel floating inside. But I also can’t help but do a little mental inventory of the past year. My mind jumps back to the moments “Mean Mommy” reared her ugly head (more times than I’d care to admit), and then, to how often I got it right. On my mental scoreboard, Mean Mommy is in the lead as of now, but I’m happy to report that there was one thing I did get right.

In fact, this year, one sentence has changed my whole parenting style, and I think it’s helping to make me a better mom:

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Why is it so difficult to remember that as a parent, it is not my job to win popularity contests with my kids, especially when they want (or worse yet, feel entitled to) the latest gadget?

It doesn’t really matter what the identified object of desire is…I venture to say we have all lived some version of the following parental error.  See if you can relate…

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Some children demand constant attention and will not take “no” for an answer.  Just as children need to learn the importance of saying “please” and “thank you,” they need to learn how to appropriately make requests. If you’re the parent of a demanding child, rest assured that this is not a new problem and there are many, many people in the same boat. Demanding behavior from children is as old as Socrates…and remember, a demanding child provides a parent with an opportunity to teach.

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