"I am an awesome parent" moments

[Amatullah0]

DS was screaming in the bathroom today. I was trying to get him to use the potty, but he didn't want to(totally fine with me!) BUT, I told him, in a very gentle voice, "I can't open the door for you unless you stop screaming. You need to stop screaming and then we can leave. Are you ready to go out? Then we'll have to stop screaming, right? Are you ready?" and, he stopped screaming. I congratulated him, and we left the bathroom. I was SO proud of him. Then I sat down and I said to myself "wow, I am an awesome mother. That was so cool!" 

What about you? What are your awesome mommy/daddy moments?

[LROM]

We never truly childproofed our house and DD has been going up and down the stairs since she could crawl up and down.  She's 2 now and mostly walks up and down just fine with no help.

A little while back on a Saturday, she'd gone up to her room and I was downstairs cleaning.  She often calls to me from her room or from the top of the stairs, and most times unless she needs something, we just talk and I stay where I am.

This time she was at the top of the stairs talking (can't see her, only hear her from downstairs) and something just made me stop what I was doing and go see her.  I went up the 1st section and was on the little middle landing, she at the top holding a blanket, and she started to walk down, tripped on the blanket, and launched forward into the air.  She literally turned upside down and was about to land on her head and I sprang forward and literally snatched her out of the air right before she hit.  She still hit her head a bit when she initially fell, but no question, it could have been MUCH worse.

Obviously I was glad I was able to reach her before she hit, but what amazed me more was that usually I wouldn't have gone up the stairs in that situation.  I'll never know what made me go, but I guess that gave me a super-mommy-instincts kind of feeling and I was feeling like a pretty good mom that day! :D

Nice thread idea, thanks for asking!

[meemee]

dd was 5. she was going through her the world does not understand me phase. she had gone over our next door neighbor for a sleepover birthday party.

after a while she came home crying. hard. in that painful way that gives you hiccups. she wanted to call her dad and get both of us to go and beat this child up. i mean she was ADAMANT. she was hell bent that was what was to happen. 

i held her and calmly found out what happened. both were to blame. both were right. and both were wrong. 

that day i felt all the effort i had put into nonviolent communication was worth it.

within an hour i was able to calm dd down, listen to her pain and empathise with that and then show her how her action looked like from the other child's point of view (i did not know that child). after an hour dd had calmed down, had a snack and drink and was ready to go back to play and explain her action to the child and tell her how much what she did hurt. 

then she went back. the bday girls mom told me how dd's reaction had shocked the other child and she had been in tears and needed calming down. and get this - all the assumptions i had made as to why the girl acted the way she did - were exactly why she acted the way she did. 

that incident blew me away. that dd COULD look at the world through the other person's perspective. 

i felt i was such an awesome mommy being able to teach dd a life skill while taking care of her needs too.  

[mommy212]

Usually I lay on the floor when nursing my 18 month old, and he kind of leans over me... Well earlier today he suddenly sat up, ran off, brought back a little pillow and shoved it under my head before laying back down and nursing. I was just like OOOOOOOOH my gosh you are so cute but at the same time i was so happy that he has learned to be thoughtful... he also likes to pour water over me to keep me warm and brush my hair. He is so sweet and thoughtful :)

[marinak1977]

Originally Posted by mommy212 

Usually I lay on the floor when nursing my 18 month old, and he kind of leans over me... Well earlier today he suddenly sat up, ran off, brought back a little pillow and shoved it under my head before laying back down and nursing. I was just like OOOOOOOOH my gosh you are so cute but at the same time i was so happy that he has learned to be thoughtful... he also likes to pour water over me to keep me warm and brush my hair. He is so sweet and thoughtful :)

awww...

I felt like a good mommy today when DS was throwing a complete fit while being buckled in the carseat. He was screaming on top of his lungs, arching, and trying to turn around. I kept my cool the whole time, talked to him gently and calmly, and we were able to get buckled down and go home without me getting upset with him working through his feelings.

[Ellen Griswold]

This has been some time now, but I'll always remember.  It was Christmas time and I had ds (5-ish) and dd (1 1/2 or so) in a "boring" clothing store.  We were tired and grumpy and wanting to go home.  There was a long line to check out and during the time we were waiting a woman for whatever reason left her purchases at the counter, ran back for something else, and when she returned was IRATE that the clerk was helping someone else in her absense.  She was loud and disrespectful to the clerk and my son pipes up and says loudly, "Wow, mom, it's hard to be patient sometimes" (which is what we frequently would say to him to help validate feelings).  I calmly agreed and he says, "I'd like to go home but I know that we have to wait our turn."  The rude woman turned around and looked at my kid and her face went completely blank for a minute.  Then she apologized to the clerk.  It made my day.