My Pledge & Apologies to Parents

I have received a couple mother-related things lately.  They've made me smile for one reason or another so I thought I would share. First things first...

Apologies to the Parents I Judged is an article I read via my friend Lena.  This article made me both laugh and cringe. 

Here's my confession:  I am not currently a mother.  Yes, I have judged.

I used to judge much worse several years ago.  I would see strangers and their "terrible" children and think "I wouldn't have handled it that way."  Of course I would never say that to someone's face but the writer of the article brought up a good point:  I didn't have to.  This makes me sad and embarrassed.

Over the past couple years several of my closest friends have become mothers.  Through them, I have seen more of what the "real world" is like and my idealistic/unrealistic/hypocritical bubble has greatly shrunk.  The fact remains though that I am not a mother.  I can babysit and emerge myself all I want in the lifestyle but I am still an impostor.  I'm still looking outside in.  I do not look at my friend's children and consider them bad.  I do not look at how their situations are handled and think my friend's chose poorly.  I know better now.  I have learned there is no such thing as the right way and that every child and circumstance is different. 

Do I still play the "What Would I Do?" game? Of course.  And I bet you that other mothers do as well.  I think it's human nature (especially women's) to put yourself in someone else's shoes and "solve" their problems.  It's not right.   It's just how it seems to be.  I can guarantee you though that my mouth stays shut and my face blank.  If and when I play my little game now it is purely for an answer to the question and not because I think I could do it better.  I couldn't.

Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong, but I feel that when all of your perfectly tidy hopes and dreams don't pan out the way you thought .. you can be the one mom looking at the other naive newcomer, gritting your teeth smiling and saying "Welcome .. it's never how you planned.."

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Sooooo I may not be a mother to a child but Mark and I are parents to a wonderful pup.  (No I am NOT comparing the two .. it's NOT the same thing .. just bare with me...)  Mark and I tend to be very strict puppy-parents.  Our friends and family give us a hard time about this and predict we will be "nazis" as parents.  We laugh and are kind of OK with this because we know we really won't be like that.  I have no idea what we will be like as parents.  How can anyone?  I know we are going in with certain expectations and I know those will, most likely, drastically change.  It's a learning process.

Well my friend Rebecca found the "Meanest Mom Pledge" and sent it to me.  You can see which side she is on ;)  Well this made me laugh and I have to say .. I love it.  So with a sense of humor, read my future pledge to my future offspring.  I honestly do love what it says .. we'll just see how much I can stick to it when the time comes :)