Kelly here, from The Imperfect Mum team.
When I scheduled this question, I made a note to myself to check it again later, only because in the past we have had unkind responses to similar questions and have had to remove them or remind people what this page is here for. We're here to support one another, to point one another in a better direction and to relate to one another that they are not the only one who has been here.
When I checked the responses after work, I was SO proud of the community and the compassion that was shown to this mum.
Thank you to the 200+ mums who answered - either through the site anonymously, or on facebook. You get it :-) and we love having you here
If you missed this original question - it is here for you.
If you missed the facebook responses - it is here for you.
And now, the reply from 'The worst mum alive' is below:
Worst Mum Alive ... Thank You
Last week I posted a question on here titled "worst mum alive" I had had the worst day I have ever experienced in my 5 short yours of parenthood and I snapped and smacked my child 3 times very hard to which I felt incredibly guilty about.
The biggest reason for my guilt was that I made a decision when we first started trying for children, that I would not become my father, my father was an abusive bully and handed out beatings on an almost daily basis, I swore I would break the cycle.
Although I have in the past smacked I have done it in a controlled manner whereas this time was different - I had lost all control, I was seeing red! I was so incredibly angry and I had to force myself to stop at the 3rd smack - I easily could have carried on.
This was the reason for my guilt - I scared myself, and I scared my child.
But what I came on here to say was THANK YOU! When I first saw that my question had been posted on to the imperfect mum page I freaked and it took me 8 hours to pluck up the courage to read any of the comments, however I'm so glad that I finally did, nearly 200 comments and not 1 single negative comment, not 1 person tore me apart, not one person was rude, not one judgemental remark, every single comment was filled with nothing but love, compassion and most of all understanding, there were obviously a lot of People who commented that they don't agree with smacking but they were not judgemental in their replies nor did they condemn me.
I took the time to read every single reply and was absolutely blown away by the feedback I received from you ladies and men - including 1 guy who came on specifically to comment with his support after being shown the comment by his wife.
I was in a flood of tears by the end of it and so blown away by the support.
Things have been better since, the very next day I sat down my boy and apologised - not necessarily for smacking him but for losing control.
I also want to point out that I do discipline my children in other ways, Via stern taking to, taking away toys, putting them in their rooms and counting to 3 etc this just happened to be a day where nothing I did or said made an impact and i unfortunatly lost control.
I have taken steps to ensure that I don't do this again now that I know what my limit is.
Again I just wanted to thank each and everyone of you who took the time to comment with your words of wisdon and support - what an amazing group of people you are, honestly you guys could save lives ...
Be the first to comment!