contact: antichowcarla@gmail.com

mamas and papas

If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be? (Prompt courtesy: https://thecoffeemonsterzco.com/en-ca/blogs/midnight-blogging/journaling-prompts)

I probably can’t honestly answer questions about my parents or siblings in case they read my blog, which I’ve asked them not to, but you never know.

What I will say is that I parent and run my household very differently than the house I grew up in. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my childhood and I love my parents. There were no deficiencies, no trauma, only love.

But.

I allow my kids to be way less than perfect, in fact I encourage it and I let them know to err is human. It’s totally cool. If you need to let an f bomb fly, have at it, as long as you are in an appropriate place to do so.

My bed is not off limits. My kids all climb in there to watch tv or just relax, at various times. Sid is five and we’re still co-sleeping with him and honestly I don’t want it to end.

My purse is not off limits. If you need something from it, go ahead and dig in it. No laws will be broken if you go into my purse.

I’m far from perfect but I try to keep comparing and criticizing off the table. Nothing is gained by this.

I forever want my adult kids to feel like home is a place they can stop by and stay, as long as they need, without making arrangements ahead of time or needing the okay from me.

It’s actually very interesting to me to read this back to myself, how far I deviated from the way I was raised. Who’s to say which is right and which is wrong. We’re all just doing our best.

Okay so this is where we’re at with my hair, (well the greys in my hair), the stylist put the tiniest hilights which are a caramel colour and the rest a dark brown, still dark but not black…next time we’ll go even lighter

10 responses to “mamas and papas”

  1. looking good Ceej! love how you give the kids room to grow – that’s all we really need, room to explore the world with a sturdy set of guardrails off the wide ends of the highway! Mike

    Liked by 2 people

    1. So well said Mike, thanks ☺️

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Lovely, Carla! Something that my wife told me that has stuck with me is that nobody gets everything they need from their parents. However good a job you do with them, there is something your kids will need as adults that they didn’t learn from you. They’ll have to figure it out for themselves, and they will probably parent their own kids in a different way than you parented them.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Yes this is very true Joe, just like the saying you can’t get absolutely everything you need from a partner, right?
      Thanks for your thoughts Joe!

      Liked by 2 people

  3. Your hair looks great!
    I think I was a bit more of a hardass than you as a mom, probably because my sister was indulged endlessly and ended up with a very bad case of Peter Pan Syndrome which persists to this day. ☹️

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I guess we all have our reasons for sort of going the opposite way hey?

      Liked by 2 people

    2. Oh and thanks Mary!

      Liked by 1 person

  4. I’m very much like you as a parent, but there are ways in which I regret not being more structured and demanding. I likely would have felt safer to be stricter sometimes, if I’d had a truly supportive partner.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I hear ya! My oldest daughter has actually mentioned that there were times she feels she would have done better, certain aspects of her life, if i had kept the tether a bit shorter…i was like thanks 🤔😤

      Like

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