As a parent you are always your child’s biggest champion. You want the to succeed, to feel good about their accomplishments, to be proud of the work they do. But what about when they make a mistake, what do you do then?
I’m not talking about typical kid things, being mean to a sibling, not cleaning their room, I’m talking about larger issues.
Recently another single mother had a problem with her teenager. It seems she wasn’t getting along with some of the girls in school and they had all started doing mean things to each other. In these days of social media it is much easier for our kids to be mean to each other in a very public forum.
My friend struggled to find the right things to do, ways to discipline her daughter, in the meantime, things were escalating. It became so bad that the principal of the school had to involve the police.
At this point I think my friend made a serious mistake, she took her daughter’s side and actually lied for her. Ouch!
As a single mother I try to protect my child from things that can harm her and I will always stand up for her, but when she has done something wrong, she has to accept the consequences.
Single mother’s are under tremendous pressure to do everything right and most of us hate when it seems as if our single parent status has resulted in behavior problems.
As hard as it is, we cannot always side with our children. In the long run, it’s not good for them. If they grow up believing we will lie, cheat and steal or them, regardless of what they’ve done, then they are free to make even more mistakes.
I’ve tried to let Hailey know that I will always support her, but if she has done something wrong, I will not side with her and cover it up. Learning to take accountability for our actions is an important part of maturing. Don’t make your kids miss the lesson because you don’t want to be seen as an ineffective parent, or worse, a mean mom.