This plus that equals…. why quick parenting isn’t lazy parenting

Here’s the latest instalment in my series of posts all about what makes our lives here at home tick. This week is a little rant from me. A rant about why taking parenting shortcuts is not lazy parenting.

Now there are several press outlets who would have us believe feeding our kids fish fingers for tea is a sign of our sheer and utter laziness of parents and we must all be ashamed of ourselves. Pah. Here’s why they are wrong.

We know our kids

Know one knows L like I do. Mainly because no one else spends remotely as much time with him as I do.

So if we are going somewhere with friends where he will be over excited and not as likely to listen as usual then I will pick different battles to the ones I would if it were just the two of us. I’ll choose things that are truly important, you know, the ones where he could actually hurt himself. Worry less about the ones that are just irritating.

So if you see me ignoring him being a bit bratty. I’m not being lazy. I’m just saving my angry voice to make it more effective when he decides he’s going to balance on a wall next to a river.

We are not idiots

You know what, as a parent I’m no fool. I don’t get it all right or know everything but I do know the basics.

I know that ice cream for breakfast isn’t a good thing. Completely aware that spending all day watching TV is going to give him a headache. I know that wearing a coat when it’s raining is preferable.

So if any of these things are or are not happening, it’s not because I’m stupid. I definitely don’t need anyone pointing out the temperature or such like. If it’s happening there is a reason and I am not an idiot.

It doesn’t actually happen everyday

You know when someone posts on Instagram that there kid is having cereal for dinner. That is indicative of daily life. It’ll be a one off.

So if L has been unwell, or just had a bad day and for whatever reason didn’t touch breakfast and picked at his lunch, then I will feed him anything for dinner. If I know Weetabix will go down then that is what he’ll be fed. As I would rather he ate something than nothing.

Strangely enough it doesn’t mean that for the other 6 days in that week he won’t be given balanced meals.

We all deserve a break, parents and kids

I can’t tell you how much I believe in this. We cannot go full throttle all the time.

Those good wholesome activities, the crafts, the nature, the learning. They take time and energy. Both to arrange and to partake in. Sometimes people feel ill, sometimes people are tired, sometimes it all just gets too much.

So before you judge a situation, remember you haven’t seen the hours, days. weeks leading up to it. iPad in a restaurant, not ideal, sure. Screaming kid, way worse.

You don’t know what kind of day that family have had. So if they just want a break and don’t want to have to battle through a meal and hand out the tech, what difference does that actually make to anyone?

We are not parenting perfectly but we are perfect parents

Good grief we are all going to make mistakes. Some days are going to be really bad. But at the end of the day we love our kids more than life itself and our kids really love us too, even if it doesn’t seem like it sometimes.

That’s pretty perfect in my book.

So I’m not here to tell people not to judge. That’s never going to stop. Not ever. Sad as it may be. I just saying if you feel judged sometimes then just remember, there are really good reasons we do what we do. A spot of quick and easy parenting doesn’t mean we are lazy, it means we are human. So let’s just try not to judge ourselves a bit.

Finally, I’m linking up with #TwinklyTuesday, #Blogstravaganza, #StayClassyMama and #fortheloveofBLOG