Show Your Kids Your Imperfections

Someone recently told me that it’s okay to show my hard moments to my daughter. “If you don’t show her your imperfections, she’s going to grow up believing that she needs to be perfect all the time.” Little did I realize that I was showing my 1-year-old only the highlight reel of my life. Yes she has seen me tired, yes she has seen me frustrated, but if I knew she was watching, I’d try to pull myself together quickly. I wanted her to always see mommy happy when she’s around because I know she can feel when something is off. Babies feel our emotions so deeply even if they don’t know what those emotions are yet. The one time she saw me cry, she had a very puzzled look on her face and immediately came up to me and gave me a kiss. It turned my tears of sadness to happy ones in just seconds. Gosh, I don’t deserve you, I thought to myself. I got to do better! I was unknowingly putting pressure on myself to display a happy fantasy to her. So I made a vow to myself and to her. A vow to show her my weaknesses, to show her when I’m upset without taking it out on her, to show her the hard times as well as the victories. To show her that being a human is about making mistakes, but to also show her that the best part of it all is that even on bad days, God is still a good God.