Perfect Parent Myth
I remember hearing stories from my mother's childhood as a kid and thinking "Wow. She was the perfect kid." I never heard stories of her getting in trouble. It was always about how she was a straight A student, a cheerleader, popular and never broke any rules. I'm sure it was all bull s*** but it still made me feel awful whenever I made mistakes. I decided to take the opposite approach when parenting my son. We embrace imperfections in this house hold.
I'm sure you're going to think, "well, Bri, you don't want him to think he can do whatever he wants." That's not what I'm talking about. I hate the idea that we need to be perfect parents and raise these perfect kids. It's unrealistic and will drive you crazy.
Parents aren't perfect. We make mistakes. We may get angry and yell. We might miss some things because we have to work. Sometimes life happens. We're tired and doing the best we can but showing your kids you're not perfect and owning up the your mistakes is really powerful. It teaches your kids to take accountability and improve themselves.
Also, not expecting your kids to be perfect is important. If they aren't expected to be perfect they are more likely to come to you with issues or try new things. Let them explore. Let them be bad at things. Be a consistent support system. It does wonders.
Cheers,
<3 Bri