We had taken over 30 hours of training to become foster parents!
We had a car seat and a crib – the items our caseworker required before opening our home to foster children!
For two years, I had successfully home schooled my teenage stepson with his ADHD and Asperger’s Syndrome.
I was ready to be the perfect parent!!!
Or so I thought….
And then our first placement arrived! That first night was TORTURE! That 8-month-old baby boy was so congested that he could only sleep 15 minutes at a time – ALL NIGHT LONG! It was the most exhausting night of my life!
And I had absolutely NO clue about feeding an 8-month-old!!! He came with cereal & formula…but I had NO CLUE how much & how often are you supposed to feed an 8-month-old!!! I am not a perfect parent!
For the next 2 weeks, we had DAILY trips to Walmart to pick up some type of baby paraphernalia that we needed to care for this infant. I was absolutely, totally FRAZZLED for at least 6 weeks solid – overwhelmed by the incredible responsibility of instant motherhood! I am not a perfect parent!
And that baby had random, explosive diarrhea for the first two years of his life! Then one day after he began talking, he moaned after drinking a glass of milk: “My tummy hurts!” I then realized that my little boy was lactose-sensitive! I had been giving him milk all this time! I am not a perfect parent!
My second son broke his arm while climbing onto a chair while my back was turned! And not just once! No, my boy broke his arm TWO TIMES within two months!!! I am not a perfect parent!
Last year, I idiotically took five small children into Chick-Fil-A all by myself. When one of my preschoolers darted away to the restroom, I had to go into the mens restroom to retrieve him! A man then reprimanded me for being a bad parent! I am not a perfect parent!
Can you ever be a perfect parent?
What I’ve learned over the last six years is that parenting is a work in progress!
You don’t have to be a perfect parent! In fact, you can’t be a perfect parent because you are human. As parents, we just do the best we can during the journey and love our kids through it all. Parenting is an incredible blessing even if we aren’t perfect!
Children don’t need a perfect parent!
Kids need a loving home! Nearly 102,000 children that are currently available for adoption from the foster care system in the United States simply need a parent! Not a perfect parent, but a parent perfect for them! More than 30 percent (31,000) of these foster kids are between the ages of 11 and 17.
If you’re not perfect either, AdoptUSKids can give you more information on adoption from foster care.
Humor me and tell me how you’re not a perfect parent either!
This post is paid for by the Ad Council, but this is my true story of how I am not a perfect parent!
