Wednesday 16 July 2014

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

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It seems I have turned into one of those 'do as I say not as I do' kind of parent. You know the type that says one thing to her kids but then *ahem* has a whole different set of rules when it comes to myself.

Cringing ... yep I am. I'm one of them. 

I've caught myself out on this a few times lately, so much so that I decided to keep a running log of all the verbal poo that comes out of my mouth for a whole week. But then I stopped after a couple of days because I was starting to feel like a hypocritical asshole and it's not very nice to mean to call yourself an asshole right? Right!

It seems I need to pay a little more attention to what kind of example I am setting for my kids. I mean just look at some of the do as I say crap that came out of my mouth on the few days I did actually keep a record.

"Boys, please don't eat any more junk before dinner" I yelled from the laundry with a mouth full of the Snickers bar I had found stashed in the bottom of the soccer bag.

"For crying out loud, don't leave your assignments and homework to the last minute. You need to organise yourselves" I cried as I furiously stabbed at my computer trying desperately to meet a deadline that was due in 28 minutes precisely.

"You guys need to go to bed earlier, you aren't getting enough sleep and you are always cranky these days" I snarled as I stomped around the kitchen trying to get breakfast organised with my eyes hanging out of my head from lack of sleep after staying up late playing on Facebook.

"You need to eat breakfast every single day" I ordered them as I filled their bowls with cereal and wracked my brain trying to remember the last time I actually managed to eat breakfast before 10.30am.

"You don't need that Juice, drink water instead" I said virtuously as I sipped on my G&T.

"Get off your silly electronics and go outside and play like real people" I shouted from where I was sitting on the couch with my laptop and iPhone.

"Don't shout at your brother" I shouted at them like every 5 minutes.

There was plenty more, oh trust me there was plenty more, but as I said earlier it's not nice to pick on people... even if by people I actually mean me.  

What about you? Have you caught yourself in a 'do as I say not as I do' moment lately?