Are you a spicy or sweet family?

Spicy: Loud, humorous, sarcastic, passionate, emotional, default setting: exclamation marks

Sweet: quiet, don't raise their voices, everything seems on point and perfect

My family...ALL of my family falls into the SPICY category. It's just the way we are. How does that translate into parenting? I think it makes you worry about everything- did you say something bad? Will your kid pick up the words, should you slip and cuss? Will they not be kind? The list goes on and on and on. As mothers, I think we all worry we suck at it. YET, and this is important- we build up other women in our lives. We encourage and lift them up. We just are way too hard on ourselves sometimes. No parent is perfect. Everyone has hard days. Everyone messes up. Everyone does or says the wrong thing. All at the same time- everyone is trying. Trying to raise kids that are loved, nurtured, and will one day be happy and successful people in society. 

Jen talks in this chapter about a childhood that is "mostly good". She says that translates into "loved and safe". I have to agree with her. How will kids know what conflict is? How will they know what it is like to not get their way or lose at something? How will they know emotion? Stress? Worry? Panic? If they never see these things from the people they love most- their parents- they won't know what to do when they are faced with it one day. Be real, as parents. Embrace the spicy moments. Stop being so hard on yourself and striving to be something you just aren't meant to be. We are all on the struggle bus doing this incredibly hard and challenging job of parenting. You are not alone. 

Is your family SPICY or SWEET?