This is SO good. Parenting is the best, hardest job ever!!! Because of what I do, I get criticized a lot. I handle most of it well, but the criticism of my mothering is very hard for me to deal with. I already feel inadequate enough on my own. I wrote about a HUGE mistake I made with my teen aged daughter a few mornings ago. http://wp.me/p1DrJQ-3B We made it through it but I am still kicking myself over it.

Well said!

Agreed.  I’ve never had a label thrown at me, but I’ve certainly felt the pressure. And I’m only a year in!  Great post.

I never feel as though I’m good enough as a parent. And I constantly mess up. I see myself as the example of what not to be, in terms of behavior. But, I cling tightly to His Truth that tells me All. Is. For. Purpose. (mistakes and all!)

Thank God for Grace!

thank you for giving voice to what I feel some times.  i always feel like a failure in some respect.  it’s nice to remember that my children are happy and healthy and that’s what matters!

Brittany, I so know what you mean. I seem to feel like a failure more times than I want to admit, and then the GUILT.
Your children are beautiful, so are you. I LOVE YOU. Glad we get to walk the journey of being moms together.

what do you do when you’ve dug yourself in so deep with a mistake that you can’t get out of it, no matter what you do? what if you’ve stopped giving yourself second chances because you don’t think you deserve one and you’re convinced you can’t make things better? what if you wake up every day believing your a lousy parent and that you’ve miserably failed your kids because you run away from everything that’s hard? what if you’ve lived your life this way for so long you can’t see any other way to live? what then?