by Melissa Willets posted in Parenting

A while ago, I overheard a mom at the park say this to her misbehaving child about throwing mulch in her direction: "That was not a good decision."
Huh, I thought. That might be an effective thing for me to say when helping my brood learn right from wrong. I made a mental note to give it a shot. Since then, I've found myself saying on many occasions, "That was not a good decision."
When one of them climbs up on a table to look out the window.
Or when they trade toothbrushes.
But on a recent morning when my 6-year-old started drinking directly from the bathroom faucet, I found myself chiding her with this now-familiar refrain: "That's not a good decision." And I suddenly realized how judgy, and just downright icky saying this to her, made me feel. Because what would happen if my kids assessed my decisions as good or bad each day"
Like when I ordered the cheese-smoothered sandwich instead of the salad at dinner last night.
Or when I was too lazy to wash my face the other day and, as a result, my skin broke out.
When I went to bed knowing there was a big load of damp laundry still sitting in the dryer.

When I yelled at my husband because I couldn't see his bedside table under all the junk he had piled on there.
In all of those situations, I could have made better decisions. Yup, it's not like I'm so perfect, even at the wise "old" age of 38 35. So, what am I doing calling my kids out on ...