Being a mother is crazy hard. You want to teach your kids all the best behaviors, but let's face it, we all have some bad habits of our own and kids do as we do and not as we say. So let's check some of the bad behaviors we might be teaching our kids before it's too late.
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1. That Vicks is the only health plan you need. All Latino families know that Vicks VapoRub is magic and I am not discounting that, but Vicks is not meant to replace health insurance or a visit to the doctor. Teach your kids to go to the doctor when they have something more serious than a cold, por please.
2. That it's okay to call people names. Do you catch yourself calling your kids or other people tonto, estúpido or worse? Well, guess who is listening and who is likely to start name calling as well? Yup, your children, so say it inside your head, but not out loud.
3. That cursing in English is not okay, but in Spanish you can say whatever you want. My mother would never curse in English in front of me because, "¡Ay, que feo!" You should have heard her in Spanish though. Bad words are bad words no matter what language you say them in, so if you don't want your kids to curse, you better watch your language.
4. That you should blame people for their misfortunes. When you hear about someone getting hurt or something bad happening to them do you find a way to blame them by saying something like, "Pues ¿quién le manda…?" Come on, have a heart sometimes bad stuff happens to good people through no fault of their own.
5. That you have to talk incredibly loud on the phone. This isn't specifically a Latina mom crime, but still. What is it about talking on the phone that makes moms think they should scream? I mean, the speaker is right by your mouth, talk at a normal volume and I promise you the person on the other end of the call will be able to hear you.
6. That chisme matters. Yes, we all love a juicy piece of chisme, but let's keep in mind that chisme is not to be taken as fact. Don't let your kids see you get all riled up over chisme and don't let them witness you being a chismosa (or chisme-spreading machine) because then they'll start doing it too.
7. To never apologize or admit fault. Oye, you may be a mom, but that doesn't make you infallible. We all make mistakes and it's okay for a mother to admit that she made a mistake and even–GASP–apologize to her child. It teaches the child responsibility and humility.
8. That cleaning is women's work. Let's not raise another generation of men who don't know how to clean up after themselves, okay? Basta with that nonsense already!
9. To put themselves down. How many of us are guilty of saying mean things about ourselves in front of our kids? Like lamenting how bad we look. This does no one any favors. We need to love ourselves so that our kids grow up loving themselves instead of picking themselves apart.
10. To be criticones. The flip side of being critical of ourselves is that we can be critical of everyone else to the point of going out of our way to find fault in someone or their appearance. Someone might be wearing an awesome outfit and you compliment them on it to their face, but as soon as they walk away, you turn and say to whoever you are with, "¡Pero esos zapatos ni regalados!" We don't need to pass that meaness on to our kids, do we?
Image via Corbis
