Parental tribulations

Watching "Iyanla Fix My Life" I had a moment with my daughter. She was in here while DMX was wigging out on Iyanla for trying to intervene on behalf of his son, who he wouldnt let get a word in edgewise. DMX eventually stormed out of the room. My daughter commented on how sad their situation was and I was moved to advise her how addiction affects families. I was also moved to advise her that families sometimes go through situations like this without addictions involved.

Parenting is hard. Sometimes, I told her, parenting is so hard that it all falls apart and even I sometimes worry that I am not doing enough. Sometimes I worry that I may not be doing the right thing, making the right decisions or being the best parent I can be, but a lot of that comes from wanting so much for your kids to have a better life than you had. Even if you had a good upbringing, a good parent wants their children to have a better life than they had. I do the best I can but sometimes I wonder if they will understand that everything I do is for them, or the sacrifices I have made for them. Im sure they wont really get it, if ever, until they are grown and have kids of their own, but I felt like I needed to have that moment with my daughter, fresh off her first period, to let her know how much I love her and her brother and that they are everything to me. She said to me, "Mommy, you're great. You do more than enough."

I smiled.

She's 11.

I hope she feels the same way 5 years from now.