I’ve always heard the phrase ‘some days are hard in parenting’… but a few days back, I felt like I truly lived one of those bad days in parenting for the first time.
Morning Mayhem
It started in the morning — my son usually eats a banana for breakfast during school days. But that day, he asked for bread and butter. Simple, right? Except… there was no butter at home.
Then came his school lunch request: a Sandwich. But the cucumber — the star ingredient — was also missing. Like always with last-minute requests, I placed an order from Amazon Now (the so-called 10-minute delivery) at around 8:10 a.m., but by 8:45 a.m. it still hadn’t arrived — turning into 30 minutes of suspense and no delivery before school drop.
So, I rushed into Plan B mode. For breakfast, I requested him to have a banana instead. For lunch, I had to convince him to take a sandwich with only tomatoes — he agreed, but I could see he wasn’t really happy about it. Thinking the name “McCain” might cheer him up a little, I added some McCain fries — which got slightly burnt, but still went into the lunchbox because there was no time to start over.
In the chaos, I even lost the lid to his tiffin box and had to change the tiffin box last minute.
The Guilt Spiral Begins
As I closed the tiffin and watched my son leave for school, I felt that familiar heaviness — mom guilt.
-
What if he’s hungry?
-
What if the food is cold or soggy?
-
What if he notices the fries are burnt and feels bad?
This is the thing about bad days in parenting — it’s not just the mishaps. It’s how our brain plays them on repeat until we feel like we’ve failed as a mom.
📣 Loved what you read? Want to go deeper into conscious parenting? ✨ The Power of Manifestation in Parenting is now available — A soulful guide packed with real-life tools like affirmations, energy shifts, and sleep talk that I personally use with my son, Hitarth. 💛 Start your journey toward calmer, connected parenting today. 🎉 Launch Offer: Only ₹99 (limited-time price!) 📲 Instant download. No waiting. 👉 Grab your copy now!.
And Then Came the Headache
As if the morning wasn’t enough, I started sneezing endlessly, the kind of sneezing that makes your head feel like it’s wrapped in a tight band. The headache hit me hard, and I had to take medicine just to make it through the day.
Evening Chaos in the Rain
Later, my son had his skating class. Everything seemed fine… until the sky opened up. The rain came so suddenly that we had to rush to a safe space — him still wearing his skates.
I quickly removed his skates, packed all the gear, and only then realised… we had left his shoes in the skating area, in the pouring rain. The rain was still bearable at that moment, so we ran back to grab them. But when I picked them up, they were soaked beyond saving.
We ended up heading home with my son barefoot in the rain.
Also read: Self-care Struggles: Finding Time for Personal Needs Amidst Parenting Demands
The Missed Message
To make matters worse, during all this, a friend with a little baby had asked me to inform her elder daughter to head home as it started raining. I intended to… but between running for shelter, packing skates, and fetching the ruined shoes, I forgot.
Her elder daughter is old enough to take care of herself, but still — the guilt hit hard. I only informed my friend after she called to check if I had passed on the message.
Dinner Disaster
After already having a hard day and battling a headache, I didn’t even think about healthy options — especially since at lunch, he had sambhar rice at home and I felt relieved that at least he had eaten something healthy. That’s why, even though I’m not a big fan of Maggi, I thought of making it for dinner.
But guess what? As if my streak of bad days in parenting wasn’t enough, I forgot to simmer it, and it got completely burnt. At that point, I could’ve cried. Instead, I took a deep breath, started over, and made it again. I, on the other hand, didn’t eat anything — I was too tired to even feel hunger.
The Realisation
By the end of the day, I sat thinking, “Today was just… one of those bad days in parenting when nothing goes right.”
But it also made me realise something important: I can make mistakes, and it’s okay. The reality is that bad days in parenting happen to all of us, regardless of how prepared or organized we think we are.
We spend so much of our parenting journey believing we have to be perfect every single day. But bad days in parenting are part of the package.
-
Sometimes the food will get burnt.
-
Sometimes you’ll forget things.
-
Sometimes the tiffin won’t be perfect.
-
Sometimes you’ll be too tired to give your best.
And you know what? Our kids don’t measure our love in perfect meals or flawless schedules. They remember that we showed up — even on our worst days.
Related read: ‘In India, we glorify having kids. We don’t talk enough about how tiring parenting is’
Why I’m Sharing This
Because when we share our bad days, we take away their power.
We don’t need to keep guilt locked inside like a secret.
We don’t need to justify or explain every “why” to people who might ask what happened.
The truth is, that day was tough. But by choosing to talk about it instead of hiding it, I felt lighter. I realised — venting is winning.
Final Thoughts
What I’ve learned is that bad days in parenting aren’t a reflection of our worth as mothers — they’re simply proof that we’re human.
If you’re a parent reading this and feeling weighed down by your own “bad day,” please remember —
-
You are human.
-
You are allowed to make mistakes.
-
You are still a great parent.
Bad days in parenting don’t define us. How we keep going — even with burnt Maggi, forgotten shoes, and missed messages — does. 💛
Your comments and shares do more than just support our blog—they uplift the amazing moms who share their stories here. Please scroll down to the end of the page to leave your thoughts, and use the buttons just below this line to share. Your support makes a big difference!
