Confessions of a bad mom

*Rider: I claim ignorance as my defense - that and being so distracted with my egocentric worries that I wasn't able to see beyond my own personal bubble.

Firstly, as Zoe was getting out of the car during carpool the other morning, her shoe fell off and she had to stop and turn around to retrieve it and, as she was resituating herself she inadvertently slammed her finger in the car door as she was shutting it.

So are you ready for this?......I was so busy watching the carpool traffic and other kids etc., that I didn't even notice that my baby was in pain and I absentmindedly drove away leaving her to suck it up and go off to school not only without a kiss to make it better, but without even an "I'm so sorry, are you going to be OK?".

Next, after watching the tissue surrounding her young fingernail become stretched beyond recognition and her fingernail turn a wounded shade of purple/black as it covered the growing pocket of pressurized blood, it took me 2 days to take her to the doctor. This after I kept Wayne from poking a hole into her fingernail in the middle of the night to relieve the throbbing pain which was keeping her up (the very thing the doctor did the next day) thereby prolonging her pain. - I just couldn’t abide him drilling a pin into her fingernail – sorry for doubting you Wayne!

Finally, I sent her back to school the next morning (forgetting to first give her Motrin to alleviate some of the pain) and caused her to wait-it-out until the afternoon before getting her into the doctor’s office.


There you have it….bad mom….guilty as charged.  By the way, I am fully aware that my offences neither begin, nor do they end with this particular incident.  It only serves to demonstrate the fact that parenthood is an imperfect art and that I have a lot of room for improvement.

I’m sorry Zoe! You are such a brave and tough girl and you are my hero!