What I Want to Promise My Kids, “The Me Project”

Hey small villains,

Thank you for being you. Keep that up.

Here’s my oath to you:

I promise to do my best to maintain you until you can handle it yourself. Then I will do my very best to get out of your way. We’ll just have to figure out when that time comes. Eesh. That sounds hard. It will be. We can do hard things.

The best version of you is one who is self-aware and who can take care of your own physical, mental, social, spiritual, and sexual needs. I’m trying, as best as I know how, to give you a model of that, some direction to find that, and space to figure it out.

I promise to be open to criticism and to try to be flexible. I’m just trying to figure out how to person, and how to parent some persons. I’m not always going to get any of that right. It’s ok to talk to me about that. I promise to try to hear you. I promise to respect you as you figure out how to person, too.

I promise to try to take care of my own stuff, so that they don’t have to. And to let you see me, really see me. I want you to know I’m working on my me, just as you’re working on your you. You gotta know that everyone has stuff, and there are healthy ways to get through it.

I promise to laugh at myself and to not get mad when you laugh at me. Same goes in your direction. We’re all ridiculous. It is what it is. Laugh it out.

I promise to try to not let my fear of what could be, drag you down. Or me down. I promise to continue to fight for my own joy, passion, contentment and peace so that you don’t have to feel like you’re on the hook for those for me.

I promise I’ll keep trying.

-Mom (large villain)