‘I hate reading aloud every day, so I don’t do it anymore’

American mother Vanessa Loder hates reading aloud. And so she decided to just do it less often. She shares her thoughts on fun and less fun parenting tasks with you.

‘I don’t like to read. Not even for my children. Not even if I know that it can help them so much in their development in their younger years. When it’s my turn to pick a bedtime story, word count and humor are my main criteria. Sure, we all have days when we’re dead tired and want to run out of that nursery as soon as possible, but even on my best days, full of energy, I just don’t like it.

Guilt

I’d rather do pushups than spend 20 minutes reading a chapter of a book. I feel guilty about it, like I’m not a good mother now or don’t care about my kids. Reading is an important part of parenting. Studies have shown that babies who are read to score higher on language skills and cognitive development. Science may be clear: apparently my head doesn’t think that way…

Anyway, we all have things in parenting that we don’t like. One person hates tinkering, the other can’t cook and the next hates getting dirty while playing outside. And so we all have something. It is important to acknowledge it. What things are you a brilliant parent in and what are you not at all. Give yourself permission to focus on the former and let go of the latter (if you can).

To each his own

As a parent, there are things that make your heart beat faster, but also things that suck energy out of you faster than being on hold at the customer service of your airline. For example, one of my friends enjoyed making her own puree for her baby. All combinations were pulled out of the closet: she got excited about it. I should not think about it! But I love to walk, bake or do crafts with my children.

We often think that we have to like or master all aspects of parenting. Discover what you like best? It’s quite simple: pay attention! Notice when you revive, what energizes you. What gives you satisfaction? Focus on that.

Of course you can’t skip or outsource all the less fun things (I still read several evenings a week), but there is a game of tickling or cuddling that makes me happy. Because at the end of the day, your kids just want you to be happy too.’

Source: Scarymommy

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