Kari Skelton

  • Shop
    • My Style
    • Kids Style
    • Gift Ideas
  • At Home
    • Recipes
      • Snacks
      • Treats
      • Meals
      • Cocktails
    • Home Style
    • DIY Projects
    • Gardening + Outdoor Design
    • Seasonal Decor
    • Everything Christmas!
  • Motherhood
    • Parenting Chats
    • Self-Care
    • Time-Savers
  • Local Love
    • Local Love List
    • Shop Local
    • Eat Local
    • Play Local
  • Adventure
  • About
You are here: Home / Motherhood / How To Embrace Mom Guilt

How To Embrace Mom Guilt

November 10, 2021 By Kari Leave a Comment

It’s alive + well and not going anywhere. Let’s chat about how to embrace mom guilt! My experience,  awesome resources, and a few tactics on how to deal. 

As always, I want to hear from you! Share your thoughts and stories in the comment section at the bottom of this post. 

how to embrace mom guilt-1

Mom guilt (or parent guilt..let’s be honest, dads are in on this too) is here to stay. I say this with confidence because I’ve had mine since Wyatt was in my tummy and he’s six now. For a long time, I tried to push it out of my mind but, for me, it’s all-consuming. Finally surrendering to that, I knew I needed some ways to deal with it.

I have mom guilt almost every day. In the baby days, it was mostly over my anxiety of being a new parent and feeling guilty about passing that onto or our son. “Oh great. He’s going to grow up filled with anxiety”! I’ve had big mom guilt over my two worlds- being a stay-at-home parent and chasing after my career and dreams. Guilty for spending too much time working and not enough time being a mom, and vice versa. Not wanting to miss a moment and feeling so guilty when I felt I had. These days the guilt comes mostly from not handling situations properly. Flying off the handle or losing my cool. I work really hard to be a calm parent but you know how it is. Sometimes the situation gets the best of you.

Living it that guilt…staying there for too long is no good but pretending it doesn’t exist is worse. Wherever your parent guilt is coming from, here are a few ways that may help you deal with it.

how to embrace mom guilt-2How To Embrace Mom Guilt

We can do a thousand things right as a parent but why is it that one moment we’re not our best is what we hold onto? Here’s how to embrace the mom guilt:

  • Recognize these feelings are totally normal. I can bet every single parent on the planet has experienced this at least once.
  • Write down beautiful parenting moments and wins in your phone. When the guilt creeps in go read that list and remind yourself the ‘I’m a bad parent’ vibe is total b-s.
  • Realize you have guilt because you care so much because you love your kids so much. Evidence that you’re already an amazing parent.
  • If you’re feeling guilty about doing something that takes you away from your kids – explain it to them. Share with them what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. “Mommy is going to go to work. I love my job so much and it allows us to do cool things together as a family!” Or, “I’m sorry I’m missing movie night but mommy has a chance to see her friends and it makes me so happy to spend time with them. Just like you with your friends!” I truly believe this sets such a great example.

how to embrace mom guilt-3

Parenting Resources

You may have heard me talk about these over on Instagram but here they are again. I highly recommend:

  • This Book: ‘You’re A F*cking Awesome Mom’ by Leslie Anne Bruce (affiliate link). Self-empowerment resources and all the realness when it comes to the chaos of parenting.
  • This Podcast: ‘We Can Do Hard Things’ hosted by Glennon Doyle and her sister Amanda. Many of the episodes are parenting-related. My favourite parenting quote came from one of those episodes: “Stop trying to be a better parent. Start focusing on being a better human and let them watch you.” Mind. Blown.

how to embrace mom guilt-4

I truly believe we gain so much from shared experiences. When I hear another parent validate or share a similar story relating to what I’m going through it helps me SO much! Just knowing you’re not alone in your feelings and experiences brings such comfort. Please share any thoughts, feelings, or stories in the comment section below. We would love to hear from you!

 

Other Posts You’ll Love

Fertility, Pregnancy, and The Vaccine

The Best Parenting Poem

10 Productivity Hacks For Work From Home Parents

xx

Related

Filed Under: Motherhood, Parenting Chats

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Stay in touch!

Get notified of

new posts!

Welcome to kariskelton.com! I would love to hear from you. Click here to email me.

My Pinterest

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

kariskelton

your go-to mom friend 🙌
Here's what works best for me and my family. Share ⬇️ what works best for you + yours!
❤️ Wyatt, Noah, Moses🐾 Monroe🐾
❤️ Ry

Kari Skelton | Motherhood Community
Disney photos! Having a blast! ❤️ Noah got to Disney photos! Having a blast! ❤️ Noah got to go on a lot of the rides too. 🤗 

What's your favourite food to get at Disney? A must-try. Share ⬇️
We surprised our seven-year-old with a trip to Dis We surprised our seven-year-old with a trip to Disneyland! I highly recommend surprising your kids with adventures - no matter how big or small. ❤️ This was so much fun! What he said at the end was the best. :) 

#disneyland #disneysurprise #disneyparks
Choose the one you can't live without. That cares Choose the one you can't live without. That cares enough to put in the work every day - especially when it 'aint so pretty. That fights for the life you've built together. The one that's willing to grow in new ways together and open their mind and heart to new possibilities.

You're the one I want to go through all the times with - the good and the tough, the happy and sad. Thank you for being the guy that folds all of our laundry and respects that I don't want you to wash mine. 😄 Thank you for changing the garbages - cause you know I hate it. Thank you for building us epic fires in the summer and making THE BEST popcorn ever. ❤️ Thanks for watching The Bachelor with me (and providing hilarious commentary throughout). Thanks for being a gentle parent with our kiddos. ❤️❤️❤️

To the love of my life, my partner in life, and greatest Daddy - Happy 14th!
@ryanjespersen
➡️ A way to involve your older child in the bi ➡️ A way to involve your older child in the birth of your baby. Tag someone in the comments who would love this. ❤️

Our son wanted to be at the hospital so badly but because of restrictions at the time, wasn't allowed. I brought a photo of him and had it on the table by my bed, we Facetimed him a few times, and beforehand, he made these beautiful affirmations for us. 

✨️ I printed out the affirmations I wanted and (his idea) he asked my top favourite things and made a list of them. Then he coloured pictures of each thing to go along with the beautiful words. I hung them in the hospital room where we welcomed Noah and I can't explain how much strength this gave me and the love I felt. ❤️❤️❤️

Thanks to our doula @tiabiggsdoula for the idea 🙏❤️.

I would love to hear how you involved your older kids in your birth. Share below.👇

#birthaffirmations #birthplan #babyafter40 #birthideas
Load More… Follow on Instagram

kariskelton

your go-to mom friend 🙌
Here's what works best for me and my family. Share ⬇️ what works best for you + yours!
❤️ Wyatt, Noah, Moses🐾 Monroe🐾
❤️ Ry

Kari Skelton | Motherhood Community
Disney photos! Having a blast! ❤️ Noah got to Disney photos! Having a blast! ❤️ Noah got to go on a lot of the rides too. 🤗 

What's your favourite food to get at Disney? A must-try. Share ⬇️
We surprised our seven-year-old with a trip to Dis We surprised our seven-year-old with a trip to Disneyland! I highly recommend surprising your kids with adventures - no matter how big or small. ❤️ This was so much fun! What he said at the end was the best. :) 

#disneyland #disneysurprise #disneyparks
Choose the one you can't live without. That cares Choose the one you can't live without. That cares enough to put in the work every day - especially when it 'aint so pretty. That fights for the life you've built together. The one that's willing to grow in new ways together and open their mind and heart to new possibilities.

You're the one I want to go through all the times with - the good and the tough, the happy and sad. Thank you for being the guy that folds all of our laundry and respects that I don't want you to wash mine. 😄 Thank you for changing the garbages - cause you know I hate it. Thank you for building us epic fires in the summer and making THE BEST popcorn ever. ❤️ Thanks for watching The Bachelor with me (and providing hilarious commentary throughout). Thanks for being a gentle parent with our kiddos. ❤️❤️❤️

To the love of my life, my partner in life, and greatest Daddy - Happy 14th!
@ryanjespersen
➡️ A way to involve your older child in the bi ➡️ A way to involve your older child in the birth of your baby. Tag someone in the comments who would love this. ❤️

Our son wanted to be at the hospital so badly but because of restrictions at the time, wasn't allowed. I brought a photo of him and had it on the table by my bed, we Facetimed him a few times, and beforehand, he made these beautiful affirmations for us. 

✨️ I printed out the affirmations I wanted and (his idea) he asked my top favourite things and made a list of them. Then he coloured pictures of each thing to go along with the beautiful words. I hung them in the hospital room where we welcomed Noah and I can't explain how much strength this gave me and the love I felt. ❤️❤️❤️

Thanks to our doula @tiabiggsdoula for the idea 🙏❤️.

I would love to hear how you involved your older kids in your birth. Share below.👇

#birthaffirmations #birthplan #babyafter40 #birthideas
Load More… Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2023 · Designed by: Mike Johnston (Mr. KitchenMagpie)