So today I took my 3yo to have a blood draw for an allergy test (shell fish concerns) and while there I ran into an relative on my husband's side. She decided to educate me on how she trained her children to be perfect for doctors and how she never gave them rewards to be good, or even let others reward them because she "would never pay her children to be good". As I stand there listening to her guru wisdom, I knew full well that I promised my daughter that if she did her best to be brave I would get her a balloon, and I understand that true, its not the best parenting in the world, and that yes Im not perfect in this area, but for the first time I was totally at peace with that. I didnt get offended, or self conscious. I feel like Ive reached a new level of mom-hood, because I realized its not a competition, its just me doing my best to balance what parenting needs more focus and energy and what things can be more flexible. I'll never be perfect, I'll mess up something (Im sure I already have), but Im confident that Ive got an amazing little person that if I give my best love and encouragement too, that she can overcome my mess ups and stay amazing for her whole life. Just wanted to share this, it felt so big to me haha.