Things I Swore I WOULD Do

I often find that I deal with life's difficulties, stresses and battles with various forms of humour; self-depracating humour, sarcastic humour etc. in an effort to not take life too seriously and to make light of the experiences that would otherwise drive me to insanity.

Recently, when speaking with someone after knowing them only a few days, I was told that I often come across as negative in my jokes or recounting of events in my life as a Mother. Perhaps she's right, maybe I am too negative; or perhaps she needs to get to know me a little better, to understand my brand of humour. The truth is there is nothing in the world I would rather do than be a mother, and despite my short-comings I hope that I am doing a fairly good job; I just find humour an excellent way to de-pressurize any situation.

Nevertheless, in an effort to be less "negative" as a parent, and less critical in my musings I am compiling a list of things that I purposed to do before becoming a parent and have in fact...done.

Let's call it a Counter-"Things I Swore I'd Never Do"-list if you will. So here it is, my Things-I've-Done-List (it's not exhaustive, but anyways...)

1. Volunteer in my children's school regularly.

2. Let my children jump on the sofa.

3. Take my children to the cinema, and buy the expensive snacks.

4. Purchase (and USE) Season's passes at Canada's Wonderland.

5. Let my kids play in the bathtub for a long time until the water is cold.

6. Take my children swimming in a pool, lake or slip-n-slide, regardless of how I look in a bathingsuit.

7. Go on any and all school field trips for which I am permitted to chaperone.

8. Do crafts with my children, involving glue, sparkles, pipe cleaners, and popsicle sticks.

9. Let my son collect bugs despite my phobia of all things crawly.

10. Act excited when I am presented with said creepy crawly things by a smiling child proud of his treasures.

11. Make the kids hot chocolate whenever they feel cold, and even add marshmallows.

12. Teach my children to use their manners whatever the circumstance.

13. Let my daughters hair grow uncut for as long as possible. So far so good...

14. Read as many books and magazines as possible with parenting advice and tips, researching my job as a mother.

15. Have at least two children...I didn't enjoy being an only child.

16. Teach my children to address all grown-ups as Mr. Mrs. or Miss despite popular practice in today's society.

17. Make a family tradition of picking out a real Christmas tree together.

18. Regularly have sit down meals together with all family members present.

19. Sign my daughter up for ballet...yes she is living out one of my dreams, but she seems ok with it...)

20. Teach my children to love reading and enjoy books.

21. Make homemade cookies and muffins, although I often cop out and get store bought cookies too.

22. Take lots of photographs of my children as the grow up...thank goodness for the advent of digital photography...

23. Play board games together as a family.

24. Carefully monitor what the children watch on television.

25. Let my kids "help" with baking, cooking, and cleaning despite that it take 2x as long and makes 2x the mess when they help.

26. Buy character bandaids even though Barbie and Batman are less practical and more expensive.

27. Pray every night with my kids.

28. Take family vacations, making memories that will last a lifetime.

29. Save every piece of artwork, crafts and drawings...although we will likely need a small storage unit soon to store it all.

30. Be flexible, teachable and constantly evolve as a parent, always striving to be the best Mother to my children I can possibly be.

As I look over this list I realize that I am successfully fulfilling my imaginary to-do list on a regular basis. I must not being doing as bad a job as I tend to think...perhaps I should be more positive!