"I'd like to be the ideal mother, but I'm too busy raising my kids."

You remember before you had kids when you witnessed a toddler throwing a tantrum in the store, or saw a school aged kid yelling at his mom, or heard stories about teens sneaking out, how you swore up and down your kids would never EVER do anything like that?
Yep, I said the same things! "My kids will never be allowed to play with things like that". "I won't ever let my kids wear something like that". "My kids will do what I tell them to do". "My kids will eat what I tell them to eat".

Then you become a mom and slowly everything you said wouldn't happen, slaps you in the face! Everything you said your kids would do, they don't ever do without a fight, if at all! It's a life lesson. Don't ever glare at another mom for what she is or isn't doing in a situation. Sure, we all want to be the "ideal" mom, but you better believe what you think is ideal is far from realistic! 

I like to call my oldest son my Trial and Error kid. Poor thing. I've never had a kid his age before so he is paving the way for his younger siblings as well as what kind of mom I'm going to be to each one of them. It may not be fair, but it's the truth.

As he enters the teen years I think about everything I said he would NEVER do and I prepare myself to handle it when it does happen! No worries, if he doesn't do these things, there is another almost teen right behind him so all that preparation won't be wasted. 
So I'm back to square one. I've decided what my next child isn't going to do based on what my first child did and well... we all know how this is going to end...

So for the next 18 years I'm going to be the mom that searches backpacks, checks online usage, reads text messages and diaries as well as eavesdrop, won't allow her kids to go places without checking in every few minutes, refuses to let her kids ride in cars driven by teens, requires a copy of SS cards and DL's before letting her kids go on dates BUT doesn't allow her kids to go on dates alone before the age of 16 anyway, checks to make sure all homework is done, grades are passing, and missing assignments are completed on a weekly basis and won't hesitate to do drug tests. Yep... that is the plan. As time goes on... I'll be sure to let you know how it all works out!