Remember that time you ate too much at McDonald’s and you felt naughty and resentful of your inability to stop yourself from those extra fries? Multiply that emotion by one million, and you are in the ballpark of mum guilt when parenting toddlers.

I’ve read stuff online which says that mums who feel guilty and exhausted when parenting toddlers are actually amazing parents. Both of those emotions hit pretty regularly and, although I think I’m doing OK most of the time, what if I don’t believe the latter bit? What if, when those pangs of mum guilt hit, instead of feeling smug about my skill at parenting toddlers I actually feel like a failing fraud? Not exactly a shit mum but maybe not the best version of a parent I could be. Definitely not the parent I thought I would be before I got pregnant.

In recent months, I’ve noticed that there’s a pattern for when mum guilt strikes. Here are some of my top sources of mum guilt and how they manifest themselves for me and my delicious toddler, TJ.

Parenting toddlers with scowls and scolding

I try my best to teach TJ right from wrong, anyone who finds themselves parenting toddlers would do the same. For me, I correct him if he does something naughty and I don’t stand for stupid stuff, like refusing to wear a coat. But, just one moment of sternness, especially if it provokes tears from either one of us, leaves me feeling like I’ve just kicked a puppy in the face. I then spend approximately three days berating myself for not handling the situation better.

This is what parenting toddlers is all about, I know. But, I worry about what life lessons I’m teaching TJ on how to cope with negative emotions. Yet, I’m not sure how I could do some of these things differently (suggestions welcome!) because otherwise, I would be raising TJ to be more than a little bit feral which I would also feel guilty for … how ironic.

Parenting toddlers = screen time

Don’t we all need a digital babysitter in our lives sometimes? As a single mum, I simply don’t know how life would happen without it. Peter Rabbit and his friends do a great job of entertaining TJ while I prepare lunch or go for a wee without having to balance a clingy toddler on my lap (true story). Before I bought TJ a tablet for Christmas, I worried that, at two-years-old, it was a little early to get him electronically addicted.

But, that tiny screen has been a lifesaver in more ways than one. Car rides longer than 15 minutes were becoming problematic with TJ regularly attempting to break free from his car seat. That’s a dangerous game when we hurtle down the M3 every other Friday to daddy’s house. So, the sound of Peppa Pig coming from the back seat may be the small price to pay to keep TJ safe and I sane. I will just ignore the judgemental (or jealous) proper parents, or those not parenting toddlers, in the cars that pass us.

Single parenting

Ah, I’m pulling out the big guns now. I’ve got plenty to say about how I have been coping with life as a single mum. But what about TJ and how’s he been doing? Some days, I marvel at how well he has adapted and taken much of his living arrangement in his stride. However, I do wonder if he thinks this is how all people who are parenting toddlers live – that all mummies and daddies have separate homes. I am proud of how well TJ is coping with so much in his young life. That said, we’ve also had our moments. They usually occur when the routine is broken. He probably doesn’t understand why sometimes he’s not at daddy’s house after nursery. Or why mummy isn’t there every morning anymore. But, until he’s a little older, I will never really know what’s going on in that beautiful head of his. The plus side to all this is I have some time to figure out how best to answer the questions which will no doubt come.

At two-years-old, TJ learnt how to express simple emotions and to recognise them in others with impressive accuracy. He knew ‘happy’ and ‘sad’, and he could relate them to his own feelings and to how others may be feeling. Great, he’s developed fast and continues to learn so well. But, it’s a real heartbreaker when he said ‘mummy, I sad’ or, even more heartbreaking, ‘why mummy sad?’ This causes me to choke back the blubs as a wave of mum guilt hits. Luckily, this doesn’t make me (immediately) reach for the wine. These moments are balanced out by times when TJ says he is happy or he recognises that emotion in me as I beam at him.

Moving on

I left TJ’s dad in the hope of a better life for all three of us as living under the same roof just wasn’t working. But, what if TJ’s current and future living arrangements are a source of bitterness, pain, and sadness? I will do all I can to ensure that doesn’t happen. I hope that TJ will draw strength of character in himself and from the strong role models who he will have around him – I count myself as one of those. But, not everything is under my control of course. TJ will react as he chooses to as he grows into the man who he will be. I just hope that he will understand that the choices I have made and the ones I continue to make are always with him at heart. This is not unique when it comes to parenting toddlers – we all feel this way sometimes right?

So…

I wish I could say that I have a specific coping mechanism to deal with it all. I don’t. Not yet, at least. In the moment, I try to explain to TJ what has happened. I apologise if I feel my behaviour was out of order. I find that leaving the room for a minute to calm down helps us both, usually. And, when it’s all over and TJ’s in bed, wine definitely helps.

It’s always good to talk and swapping parenting toddlers stories with my ‘mum friends’ is a great release. I know I’m not the only one who gets the guilt. But, above all, I try my best to remember that I am not a bad mum. We all feel this way sometimes, guilt hits the best of us – mums, dads, brothers, sisters – all of us, no matter what our situations.

I just have to learn to banish that mum guilt over the line.

Written by Jude Peppis-Clay for her blog, Gluing Cheese.

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