"Good enough" parenting
Posted on August 25th, 2010
I don’t always buy organic. My kid has eaten happy meals (although not since we stopped commuting a zillion hours a week). Sometimes I let her eat dinosaur mac-n-cheese without insisting on a fruit or veggie with it. There are days when she watches more than 2 hours of TV. (Although in my defense, they’re either Dinosaur Train, Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, or Scholastic DVDs.) I will buy her a piece of cake at the store and let her eat all the frosting off the top.
I call it “good enough” parenting, for the days when I have a migraine, or haven’t gotten enough sleep, or I just need a break. You know what? The world hasn’t ended yet. The guilt hasn’t done me in.
Today is definitely a good enough day. Two nights of not enough sleep (my fault, mostly – by the time P went to sleep, I was so happy to have peace and quiet I refused to go to bed at a reasonable hour), hot weather, a kid who is feeling a bit clingy – Yeah, I doubt we’ll be hitting any museums today.
