One thing I never knew before I became a mom was that I would feel guilty all the time. I know this is unreasonable. My logical brain tells me that I am a good mom — that my son is awesome and my next son will be too. But man does that emotional part of my brain keep me in line when I get too cocky.

Here are a handful of things I feel guilty about as a parent — some rightfully so, some irrational:

• working
• working at home
• working at home in the evenings
• engaging in my hobbies
• letting my son watch DVD’s
• letting my son play video games
• letting my son see me play video games
• letting my son see me play video games where a house gets robbed and introducing a new fear of burgalars
• giving my son sugary foods to eat
• giving him pizza and french fries too often
• giving my son Cheerios and dried cranberries for dinner some times
• waiting too long to start my son in preschool
• taking my son out of day care
• leaving my son in day care too long
• forgetting to send cards to day care with Wyatt on Valentines Day
• not sending my son to a preschool that his friend attends
• not intuitively knowing everything that every other parent I meet already knows
• yelling
• losing patience with a three-year-old
• swearing in front of my son
• that one time I told Wyatt to “brush his f***ing teeth” and threw his toothbrush in the sink really hard (I still feel really guilty about this one almost a year later. I have a feeling I’ll take this one to my grave.)
• letting Wyatt skip baths
• not singing to the new baby in utero as often as I sang to Wyatt
• just beginning to document my current pregnancy
• eating fish while I’m pregnant
• eating goat and bleu cheese while I’m pregnant
• not sleeping as much during this pregnancy
• feeling stressed out during this pregnancy
• sometimes forgetting that I’m pregnant

What about you all? Anyone want to join in on the guilt-fest? Leave a comment if you feel up for it.