You must be mistaken...
- John DeSantis
- Dec 10, 2019
- 2 min read
If you really think about all the decisions you make on a day to day basis, big or small, in hindsight there are a good number of wrong ones in there. Some are minor, unnoticed or inconsequential mistakes. Forgetting your cup of coffee on the kitchen counter on your way out in the morning, or leaving your umbrella at home on a rainy day for example. In reality those aren’t mistakes at all. If not sending something into a nuclear meltdown was the best thing you did today, it’s still better than the alternative. The mistakes you do make, are hopefully for the most part not resulting in irreparable harm.
Looking at that mentality from the perspective of parenting, you’re going to screw up every day. You’re going to be left to make decisions, and there will be a lot of missteps among them. The best you can do is just being there to make the mistakes in the first place. You’ll learn from them and hopefully there’s another chance to make the right decision next time. And if there isn’t, then you move on to the next task at hand, the next decision to be made.
That’s one of the best things about time. It continues, it moves on, it doesn’t stop. And when you’re looking after the growth and development of a child, you don’t have much time to dwell on your mistakes in those moments because there are other tasks lined up out the door for you to get to. Whatever you do, do it with all of the love in your heart. If you’re tired, wiped out, or stressed in these situations, just do the best you can in the moment. Don’t let hindsight storm through your house like the Bumpus Hounds mauling the old man’s turkey dinner in A Christmas Story.
If you’re there making these decisions and giving your kids thoughtfulness and presence in their life, you’re giving them the best of you as a parent. You’re showing them you care, that they’re important to you. You’re already doing more than any small mistakes could squander just by being there. In the immortal words of Adam Sandler in The Wedding Singer, they “will listen to every damn word I have to say.”
You have better things to spend your time on and think about than beating yourself up over the decisions you made yesterday.
Listening to:
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