[mommariffic]

So, I am normally a super gentle disciplinary.

My toddler is 20 months, and I've managed to keep her behavior under control and she's having virtually no tantrums, and hardly says no anymore...I'm pretty proud of it, and we are a happy duo.

But, today we were playing with our cat, and her 5 week old kitten, and my daughter [who is normally very gentle] grabbed Basil [the kitten] and twisted him, pulled his tail, etc which make him shriek in pain, and made me panic. My first instinct was to lightly smack her hand, and take him away

And, she did, and everything is fine, but I feel so GUILTY for giving her a light smack on the hand! I am so against smacking/any kind of physical discipline, and yet I panicked because I really thought she was going to kill the kitten somehow, ha.

So, I just wanted to share that. I kissed her after and told her that I was sorry, and she "scared mommy.." but I just feel like a horrible momma.

Uhg

 

[Julia24]

everybody makes mistakes. If you weren't a good Mama, you wouldn't feel badly about it now, yk? (and be torturing yourself - which, if I know the feeling, you are) You KNOW it was a mistake - you TOLD her you were wrong, and that's probably more than your own parents EVER did, yk? Now you just have to make a plan for the next time that urge strikes you, so that it doesn't happen again.

I remember doing something like that with my older dd - when she was probably 4.5ish? She had started spitting which I just find revolting and I was SO angry that I bopped her on the mouth while yelling we NEVER spit! And by 'bop' I mean, the hardness of what I would do if someone surprised me and I said 'OH' and put my own hand over my mouth, yk? But it didn't matter - I knew I hadn't hurt her physically, and yet I knew she must've felt ASSAULTED. I felt HORRIBLE. I cried - I called my dh at work to tell him what I had done. I apologized to her. I apologized to HIM (afterall, he trusts me 100% with HIS child and I broke that trust, imo). But that moment had a serious impact on me. I remember that moment whenever a situation like comes up and I vowed NEVER to do it again.

 

[mamarootoo]

i have to kind of disagree with the pp. it doesn't sound like you were angry. it was a moment of panic, not a moment of rage. there is a difference. this was situational, and you can avoid easily in the future by not allowing your DD to hold the kitten until the kitten is big enough to handle it, and your DD is able to understand how to be gentle with it. rage is much harder to control, ykwim?

i wouldn't beat yourself up. you made a mistake, you apologized and now you know that your DD needs more supervision with the kitten

 

[Julia24]

I wasn't implying that she was angry - just that I understand the feeling of regretting a parenting decision I had made

Much more concisely put, Laura! (I tend to be WORDY!)