Believe in yourself

 

 

Beliefs are a large part of everyone’s life. According to Merriam-Webster belief means “A state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing.” We believe that the sun will rise in the morning. We believe that gravity is a given. We might even believe in a higher power. We believe things as truth’s because we want to believe in them. There is one belief though that many people fail at, the ability to believe in yourself.

Parenting is not a typical 9 to 5 job. Parents days are about challenges and obstacles. The ability to believe in yourself and know that you are doing a good job isn’t easy. Children will test you again and again making you doubt your every move. Friends and family will question you continuously leaving you to wonder if you are making the right decisions. You will see advertising, television, movies and books all screaming at you that you aren’t good enough.

Believe in yourself

Ultimately, no one’s opinion matters if you believe in yourself. The question then becomes how do you start to believe in yourself? I have heard many times being happy is the easiest way to have this belief. If you aren’t a happy person the simplest way to become one is to decide to change. You decide that you are happy and know you are the best parent possible.

Each of us has the power to devalue ourselves. It is a power that we can’t give up unless we decide that someone else is right and we are wrong. We decide to give someone power over us. We allow people to make us feel small. Once you realize that power isn’t given away without your knowledge you can begin to believe in yourself and take back control.

Does this mean you won’t make mistake? No, making mistake is how we learn and grow. It makes us a better parent and better human being. As a parent we will always have doubts. It’s what you decide to do with that doubt that can make all the difference.

I have doubts. As a stay-at-home parent I am the one that gets the most “punishment.” I see the temper tantrums, the bad attitudes and pouting. I have to make decisions quickly and rationally. I have to know that I am always doing the best I can.

 

 

Today, I was working on finding my keys (see Attitude Adjustment Needed) and Xander wanted me to play. I would play for a few minutes and tell him, “Xan, I need to go look for my keys again.” Generally, he didn’t say a word. He would have a small pout and occasionally a growl. It wasn’t until this afternoon that my son decided he had enough of me looking for my keys and feeling ignored.

I was in the kitchen cleaning off the counter when he came in and asked me, “Dada, color with me. Please?”

Please, the magic word means a lot to me. I knew though if Xan wanted to color he needed to pick up toys in the living room first. Scattered toys were from one end of the room to the other. “Xan, you go start picking up your toys and I will come in a few minutes and color with you.”

Xander turned around and went back to the living room. He shuffled around the room and never picked up a toy and said “Dada, it to hard! It so hard! You come help me!”

I have been with my son long enough to know he was actually thinking I could pick up all the toys why he supervised. I turned to him and said “Xander, you haven’t given me much incentive to want to help you. You haven’t picked up one thing and put it away.”

I watched as his eyes started to light up. I knew that something had inspired him. Xander went over to the toys and picked up one small block and carried it to the container and dropped it in. “Dada, I picked up one thing. You do it now!”

I don’t like watching my son give me the hurt looks of feeling ignored. I also don’t want a child that grows up thinking everything is going to go his way. Especially a child that is eternally looking for loopholes in what I asked him to do. I wish I could say we colored. We didn’t get to color because Xan believed I was going to pick up the toys. I try to take the philosophy, “believe in yourself” and know that I am making the right decision of not picking up his toys.

1 point Xander for saying please, 1 point Dada for taking the motto “believe in yourself” as a parent.

This post was wrote for the A to Z +1 Blogging Challenge  Today is the letter “B” for Believe

Tags: challenges, decisions, doubts, parenting, parents, stay at home