Quit the blame game

GUILTY. The lot of us. Guilty in our heads at least.

Talk to any mum who works – which would be the majority of us – and we will find a way to somehow lay the blame at our feet.

We don’t read enough to our children. We allow too much screen time. We don’t pack the perfect lunch. We gave them a doughnut so have set them up for a lifetime of diabetes. We work too much. We are too cranky. We don’t send them to organised sports. The list goes on and on.

Us mums talk ourselves down so much. The level of negative self talk and blame we throw our own way is truly horrific. You wouldn’t (hopefully) address your child with such venom, so what kind of example are we setting with such personal dislike?

Society has changed and now working mums are the norm so isn’t it time we accepted it as normal and talked it up rather than down?

My friend has an excellent perspective. This working mum who is in charge of a hefty amount of people embraces her role and thinks her children would be proud of her.

So here is a challenge. Every time you talk yourself down this week, or find yourself thinking or saying “I should” or “I don’t”, really try to find the positive. For example: “I work too much” can become “I thrive on achieving and this is a good quality that I would like my kids to adopt too.” Sounds good to me.