Post Mother's Day thoughts....

Nothing quite says Happy Mother's Day like an early morning scream from your child's bedroom. The good news was that she was not hurt; she just had an 'accident'. Really, does the child not realize she has a father as well...

The last time my daughter had an 'accident' was more than a year ago... so why Mother's Day of all days...

Since I was up early, I started to think about if this was what I pictured motherhood to be... while grumbling and swearing under my breath as I loaded the laundry machine.

Actually to everyone's surprise, including mine, and especially my mother (which does not say much about my mother's opinion of me), I LOVE being a mom.

I love spending time with my daughter. I love watching her grow, do, and learn new things. I love watching the ever changing expressions on her little face. I love watching her create and make stuff. I love the hundreds and thousands of ugly crafts that she brings home from school – even if most of them end up in the recycling. I even sometimes love it when she is being a little bit naughty, as she finds really interesting and creative ways to be naughty (but that will be our secret)

However, I still have moments of doubt, of what in the world did I sign myself up for. And, moments when I think about handing in my resignation.

I admit there are times when my child frustrates me to the point that I just want to yell to her that “I QUIT! You think you know better, fine, you are on your own kid.”

I think I might have actually done that once or a dozen times... I am not proud of this. I know there are better ways of communicating my displeasure than to give my child an abandonment complex. But, I have a bad temper, and though I try very hard to control it, sometimes I still explode. I do apologize to her after, and explain that mommy did not mean the things she said, but mommy was very upset, and when you are upset, sometimes you end up saying things to hurt people. Usually by then I am calm enough to talk it out again.

So this mother's day, I will make my daughter this promise (I am probably repeating my new year's promises). I will try very hard to never say I will leave her ever again, at least not indefinitely – I make no promises to stop threatening to send her to her grandparents' or aunt's house overnight until I calm down. I promise to try to calm down and to spend more time listening and less time yelling/nagging at her. And, I promise to try to be the best mommy that I can be for her. And if this does not work, I am packing my bags and moving to Hawaii...

Does anyone have a suggestion to help me calm down before I start yelling at my little girl? So far, I am resorting to 'mommy timeouts' – I lock myself in my room for 5 min (preferably with wine) to attempt to calm down before dealing with her again.

My latest pet peeve...

Oh, I have many things that annoy me, but this is the one currently stuck in my head.

Contractions in books for kids (like early readers, for kids seven and under). I just don't like it.

Back in my old school days, you know, the days when one had to walk up hill to and from school, contractions were a big No No during English class. It was considered lazy to shorten words; and really, we were, essentially, only dropping one or two letters at the most, so why not just write the whole word out.

In today's world of texting and tweeting, kids are growing up without even using vowels half the time. I admit I am guilty of doing this too; you have to ditch something when trying to fit a thought into 140 – 160 characters. Therefore, I feel it is especially important to preserve proper writing in kid's book; to show kids how to actually spell words and form sentences.

I also understand the concept that we often read with our ears - that is sentences written in a conversational tone are easier to read and to comprehend. However, I do not see why we should make everything in life easy. What is wrong with being a little bit challenged?

Besides, I find contractions make learning to read more difficult. My daughter is starting to sound out words, and in order to sound out words you need letters and VOWELS. You try sounding out doesn't.

So publishers of children's books, please stop using contractions. And writers, remember you often get paid per word; so is two words not better than one?