We are all bombarded with guilt at one point or another. However, I feel like moms get hit with it the hardest. It’s not just once in a while for us, it is EVERY SINGLE DAY! At least for me it is! We start out the day positive, ready for another day. We tell ourselves, “Today I am going to be patient, loving and the best mom in the world.” However, as soon as the kids wake up that is quickly diminished. There is always one kid that wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, one that no matter what you try to do is not happy with anything, and one that is constantly spilling, getting hurt, making a mess or whining. By noon you have lost all patience that you woke up with and you’re ready to scream and hide in your room while you eat cookies. Pretty soon you start to yell, you get in a bad mood and by the time your husband gets home it’s a war zone. Bedtime can’t come quickly enough, but when it finally does and you are sitting there trying to relax the guilt starts to set in. You start to replay the day in your head and you realize all of the times that you yelled, lost your patience and said things that you didn’t mean to say. You start to get that sick feeling inside because you feel like you’re the worst mom in the world. You sneak into your kids’ rooms and give them kisses and hugs and then quietly whisper that you are sorry and that you love them more than anything. When you finally get into bed you tell yourself that tomorrow things will be different, you will have more patience, more love and more understanding towards your kids. Then the cycle starts all over again.

Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we beat ourselves up and think back to what we did? It’s a very simple answer: It’s because we love our kids. We want our kids to have the best life possible and so we think back on our day so that we can improve and become a better person the next day. It’s so frustrating because some days it feels like we haven’t made any progress. But let me tell you a secret (We are always making progress!)

Let me give you an example: The other day I had had a major mom guilt day. I felt so bad that night because I didn’t feel I was the best for my kids that day. The next day I woke up and told myself that I was going to be better. When I laid down that night I still had the mom guilt, but then I tried to focus on the things that I had done better. I realized that when my kids were acting up I had asked them why they did what they did and tried to listen to them instead of jumping to conclusions. I started to understand them better as little people instead of naughty kids. Whereas the day before I didn’t even give them a chance to tell me why they did what they did, instead I got angry and frustrated with them.

Now don’t get me wrong, I still got frustrated with my kids, but I was making the small steps in becoming a better mom. No matter how much guilt we feel, we have to try to focus on the small steps that we have made each day. Guilt can be a great thing in the fact that I helps us to become better people, but it can also be a huge detriment. We can’t hang on to the things that we did wrong, instead realize and acknowledge those things and then move forward and become better from it.

You are doing a great job as a mom. You’re not the only one who feels terrible after a long day. There are many moms that lay in bed at night sick with guilt. We’re all in this together. You are the best mom! Your kids love you more than anything in the world. They worship you and hope to be like you one day. Keep moving forward! As long as you’re moving forward you’re not moving backwards!