Can an examination of conscience help me be a better mother?

Posted by Veronica

Once upon a time, Ginger gave me a book called The Catholic Mother's Resource Guide: A Resource Listing of Hints and Ideas for Practicing and Teaching the Faith by Maria Compton -Hernandez
She suggested that I keep it in my purse and just look at it in the car at red lights.  That should have been easy, but it wasn't.   My purse is a backpack brimming with diapers, toy cars, and snack traps!   However, today I finally got to take some time and read it.

I read the whole thing tonight while relaxing in my bath, a treat I enjoyed only because our two children decided upon the exact-same early bedtime tonight. Among suggestions I have heard many times (post prayers around your home, pray the rosary one decade at a time), I found two bits of treasure I really needed to hear.

These two bits have something in common with the posts below this one - so I think maybe everyone else is feeling the pressure of this time of year too. These two bits will hopefully help us all grow in patience, grace, peace and virtue.


Quoted from page 6

Do a simple nightly examination of conscience
One great method another mom taught me which I continue to use is the desolation/consolation examination. It's very quick and you can do it before you drift off to sleep. You simply meditate on the events of the day and ask yourself, "What gave me desolation today?" What made you feel bad, lose your temper, become angry or resentful, or just generally made you feel unhappy? Try to focus on one event and offer to Our Lord, asking for His help and guidance on how you can improve/change that situation and perhaps prevent it from happening again. Next ask yourself, "What gave me consolation today?" What made you feel happy, satisfied, joyful, spiritually uplifted, or just made you smile? Thank God for this event and pray for the person(s) involved in the episode.

I'm going to be trying that this week prior to falling asleep. I hope you can join me.

The other treasure I found was this (and I'm going to shorten it a little bit).
Quoted from page 33

Discipline your children with the eyes of the Blessed Mother and Our Lord
... It is important that parents take the necessary steps to discipline children for inappropriate behavior, but here's a little tip to help you maintain a spirit of love when you discipline: imagine that Jesus or Mary is sitting right there in the room watching you admonish your child. Would you speak/behave any differently if Our Lord or Our Lady was actually sitting there observing you?... Try it!

I plan on trying this. Maybe if I imagine them in the room with me, I'll look over and they'll tell me what the best plan of discipline would be! I find that having a 2 1/2 year old is overwhelming. Part of me just keeps hoping that my 2 year old will become a 3 year old and just grow out of it. The other part of me is totally clueless.
I plan on doing the examination of conscience at night. The things that upset me the most every day are the same things day after day. I really want to start praying about them so that I can be led to the answers of how to best love and discipline my children. If you'd like to pray for me, I'd really appreciate it. I'd also love to hear any ideas you might have. Please leave them in the comments below.

Pray for us! thank you!