I yelled at my kids this morning. I’m not proud of it.
My wife works overnight shifts at the hospital, so I have my share of solo dad time.
Normally, I love it, and embrace the opportunity to step up and be the best dad I can be. My boys (3 and 5) are the greatest and I love being their dad more than anything. At that age though, they’re also a handful, and it takes a lot of my bandwidth. Between them they woke up 3 times last night (a bunch of bad dreams), so I was short on sleep and feeling it.
And this morning – when I was trying to get them breakfast, dressed, teeth brushed, and off to school – as they ran away from the front door instead of out of it, I lost my cool.
Something I always remind my Mental Gym members and one-on-one clients is Living Your 10 does not mean being perfect.
Yes, it’s about holding yourself to a higher standard – but we’re human and this is real life (not a multiple choice math test) and there is no perfect. Being a parent is the most rewarding, challenging, and humbling thing I’ve ever done. No matter how hard you work on yourself and how much you grow, you still screw up. And as long as you’re a parent (and human), you always will.
I’m not making excuses or giving myself a free pass. But I’m not going to beat myself up about it either.
Instead, I’m going to learn from it, grow, and be a better dad tomorrow.
And the next time I screw something up, I’ll make sure I do the same.
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