10 Things that Sadden a Mom's Heart

As a child growing up, I would often think my parents didn't love me if they wouldn't do one thing or another. I would think they weren't paying attention to me or that I just wasn't important enough to them. Naturally, after having children of my own, I began to realize many things I had not seen from a child's point of view. I began to apologize to my own mother for the pains I caused growing up, which in turn helped to bring us closer together as she saw me grow out of my own selfishness.

1. It really can hurt to discipline your child and watch that child cry. When my parents would tell me that my punishment for being bad was for my own good, of course I would think they were nuts. Even though I knew I had done wrong, punishment still seemed so unfair. I couldn't see how my parents could be so cruel. Then I had my own kids and readily saw how it can hurt when I would have to endure the tears I knew I had caused from punishing their bad behavior. Even though it was truly "for their own good", it hurt me as much to administer the punishment as it did for them to endure it!

2. Disrespect. This hurts because a parent has feelings, too. We feel that if our children love us enough, they will respect us. But children have to learn respect. Then when they do have a chance to learn and they hurt us anyway, it hurts even more because they should know better. It crosses boundaries that separate the parent and child in their order in the family. The parent, being older and wiser, feels that he or she deserves the respect and that it should come readily.

3. Rejection from peers. Most mothers want their children to fit in, to feel accepted and maybe even admired by their peers. Normally, this isn't wrong unless the parent or child has gone overboard with it! But when the child comes home at the end of a school day or event or even a birthday party and is hurt because of peer rejection, it saddens the mother's heart as well. She may even feel she has failed that child herself by not helping them become acceptable.