Mum drops her baby on his head, making an emotional plea to parents
Certain days of the year have more meaning than others, it takes us back to a certain period in our life.
It could be one year ago, ten years ago or twenty, but you will relive moments over and over as if you were in a time warp.
Liz Mannegren feels every inch of that time warp each year when it comes to her toddler son, Alistair.
Because when Alistair was just a little tot, Liz lived through every parents worst nightmare – she dropped her baby on his head.
One moment she was walking across the living room with him in her arms, the next, he back-flipped out of her arms and directly toward the floor.
The day had started out like every other, but it ended in a scenario Liz finds painful to remember.
"Two years ago, I dropped my baby. And he fractured his skull."
"In mere seconds, a perfectly normal day turned into an absolute nightmare. Maybe you know what I'm talking about. Most of us have had at least one of those days in our lives: a day when your world comes crashing down upon you, knocking you over with the suddenness of its ferocity."
Rushing to the emergency room, both mum and baby with tears rolling down their faces, Liz was terrified, had she broken her little boy? All the 'what ifs' running through her mind.
It was then she bumped into a nurse, who kindly reminded Liz that this happens often to many parents: "That nurse had taken one look at me and seen the crushing weight of mum-guilt I was struggling to carry."
"While there was some small measure of comfort found in the fact that I wasn't the first mum to drop her child, it didn't relieve the feelings of failure that washed over me," she commented.
Nonetheless, the moment of comfort passed when the mum realised Alistair had a fractured skull, how could this be possible?
"I was angry at myself for letting this happen, for somehow not predicting this and catching my son. My little boy had trusted me to protect him and to keep him from harm, and I'd quite literally let him down."
"I felt like the world's worst mother."
Parenting is full of hard lessons, but Liz felt that this particular incident was tough to take, nonetheless, she reasoned that she can't protect her son from everything.
"There will be days when we fall short. Days when our feelings of failure and guilt thrive on imperfect moments. Days when life is difficult and complicated. Days when we feel unworthy and broken."
"Days when our kisses aren't strong enough to rub away the pains and hurts our children carry."
When in times of difficulty, we tend not to realise that we are only human, mistakes are made and accidents can happen, but we are more than our bad moments, we are not defined by one mistake or action.
"These miserable, distressing, all-round-awful days serve as not-so-gentle reminders to savour life."
"Accidents happen. Life is fragile. It's moments like these that remind us to never take these days for granted but to soak up each and every snuggle, each breath, and each precious laugh."
Because at the end of the day, Liz may look at herself and see that mum who failed to catch her son on time, but Alistair, he looks at his mum and sees the woman who comforted him in his hour of need.
Liz shares her story so other parents can too realise that they are more than the mistakes they have made on a given day, pleading with you to fight those feelings of inadequacy.
"You are MORE than today. Today does not define your motherhood. Today may be horrible, but that DOESN'T mean that YOU are."
We couldn't think of advice more fitting for all our parents – what a wonderful message to share.
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