Kids Are Not Critics

I’m my own harshest critic. When I feel like I’ve lost my patience one too many times with the kids or like I could have made a healthier meal, no one cares but me. We tend to focus on what we could have done better or what we should have done better, instead of the millions of things we did perfectly well that day. So you didn’t manage to get the laundry folded, but you did manage to catch your toddler before he fell headfirst off the couch when you weren’t even looking — and you don’t even think twice about cleaning up the third cup of spilled milk in a week. We need to be giving ourselves more credit for our amazing saves and fewer mental smackdowns because we could have done something better.

My daughter always tells me, “I love you most the way you are,” a combination of “I love you just the way you are” and “I love you the most” that I’m always telling her. Because our kids? Well, they notice our awesomeness much more than our flaws, as this video demonstrates.

Can’t see the video? Click here to see kids as their moms’ biggest cheerleaders.

It’s not to say we shouldn’t always strive to be more patient or better parents. But maybe we should cut ourselves some slack and see ourselves and all of the awesome things we do as moms, day in and day out. Those kiddos do notice, and they do love us for it.

Do you find you’re your harshest critic? Did this video make you reconsider your abilities as a parent? I’ll wait for your tears to dry… —Erin