It's Okay to Screw Up

The title is self-explanatory.  But the emotion behind it is more complicated.

See, lately I've been struggling with Parenting Perfectionism.  It's capitalized because it is, in fact, a thing. And it's not a good thing. 

Don't get me wrong, it's great to want to do the best job possible for your child.  In fact, if you didn't want that for him or her, there might be something really wrong with you.

Great job! (Playing our ABC game)

But I am learning that there's a difference between wanting to do the best you can as a parent, and pursuing goals that are unrealistic, which sets you up for failure.  And feeling like you're a lousy parent isn't good for you OR your child.

Something to Consider

Continuing with our recent self-improvement theme, I found this gorgeous photo with a lot of even better things to say. It touches on the things I discussed last week in the posts "Get a Life!" and "Finding Me."

Instead of beating ourselves up for our past mistakes or hardships, we should be proud of ourselves for learning from them and for persevering despite what we've been through. Something to think about, as we try to look forward rather than backward. Have a great day!

The Wisdom and Legacy of Steve Jobs

Everyone, myself included, seems to be mourning the loss of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, a man who led a technological revolution for which we're all grateful.  My daily routine would be a lot different without my iPhone, iPod, iPad and Macbook Pro. I'm sure the same is true of many of you.

But what's really remarkable is that so many people are realizing what an amazing person Steve Jobs was, with an amazing and inspiring attitude as he fought cancer and faced death.  Fortunately for us, he shared some really wonderful stuff - besides all those awesome gadgets - with the world, and I wanted to share some of that wisdom with you.

Photo from lisenstromberg.wordpress.com

Imperfectly

“I'm okay, if you get me at a good angle
and you're okay, in the right sort of light
and we don't look like pages from a magazine
but that's all right - that's all right.”

--“Imperfectly,” Ani DiFranco

Single Dad Laughing (SDL) has done it again: he has shared a blog post that really challenged me and forced me to take a good hard look at things. I think you should too.

I have LOTS of imperfections!

He recently commemorated the one-year anniversary of one of his most important and most widely read posts, “The Disease Called Perfection.”  I had read it a long time ago but decided to do so again. I’m glad I did. And I recommend that you do the same. You can read the original post here, and then check out his anniversary follow-up here.