Mom Guilt- We All Have it at Some Point Right?

My kids were great sleepers and still are.

My kids both potty trained easily and early.

My kids are generally well behaved.

My kids have great social skills with other kids and adults.

My kids know a lot about Jesus and the bible.

These are some things that I can count as small victories in our life together so far. I can look to these things and success for me personally as a Mom. I can say...potty training, yes no problem!

But that by no means, NO MEANS implies that we haven't had other struggles. I guess it's bound to happen at some point. There will be something that your kid just does NOT get and you will feel guilty as a Mom...like you've failed them in some way. Be it the potty, or sleeping, or eating properly or in our case, reading.

I'm going to openly confess that I wasted a lot of time when Tessa was 4 and 5 doing other things like playing, painting, watching TV and did not invest very much time in reading at all. She vaguely learned her letters in pre-school and I thought that going into Kindergarten that would be enough.

Until she started struggling in Kindergarten which carried into first grade. At age 6.5, she can still barely read. She can spell great which is a mystery to me, but I've started to think that's just pure memorization. When it comes to applying that knowledge to reading a book, she's often lost.

Yes we've tested her eyes, and he teacher is finding a reading tutor for her at the school. We're on it.

But I still feel bad. I could have helped this. I could have been teaching her letters a lot more back when she was 4.

And now Charley is 4 and in the same boat. I worry about him going forward to Kindergarten. His speech is improving all the time, which is good...but now I've started giving him a daily 'homework' sheet which mostly includes writing his name over and over.

But when I show him the ABC cue cards, he only knows C.

I worry that this will be a struggle for both of our kids. Those other things we mastered without trouble. And I'm sure there's some Mom out there who's 4 year old can read but still poops their pants. It seems like there's a hang up for every family...and I've come to think this may be ours.

To each their own struggle.