Motherhood tips, resources and links.
Baby in driver seat
Deciding to have a child is a lot like starting a home improvement project with an incomplete toolbox. You have to begin from a mindful posture, and bring your sense of humor and an open mind. As I quickly learned: You are not in control – baby is.
A baby is a pure being. In the womb it swims around and grows, causing all sorts of interesting physical and mental wackiness to occur in a woman’s body. Some of these are things she’ll never completely recover from. What she and her partner will give up, however, will be paid back in wisdom.
The moment a person becomes a parent is when their ordinary life becomes extraordinary.
Motherhood resources
It’s true there’s no shortage of advice and help for parents: More than 97,000 parenting titles are for sale on Amazon.com as of this writing. And not to be ignored is the unsolicited opinion and wisdom parents receive from well-meaning family, friends, and strangers.
However, all the advice, research, charts, and infographics don’t mean a thing unless you experience parenting for yourself. No one on this planet, including yourself, can prepare you fully for the enormity of having children and all the conundrums that tag along.
Many mothers I’ve spoken with (including myself) constantly battle little voices in their heads that say: Am I good enough? Am I doing the right things? Am I spoiling my kid? Am I learning from my mistakes? Have I become (dun, dun, DUN) my mother?! Whether first-time or seasoned moms, women constantly question themselves when it comes to raising their children, and what may (or may not) be best for their kids.
The joy of motherhood
True too is that being a parent requires work – hard work. When you experience raising a child, there is a relationship between the two of you that develops and deepens. You can’t just have a relationship with someone without working at it. Anything worth doing well is hard. Fortunately, there is joy in the doing and learning from all the mistakes you’ll undoubtedly make as a mother.
So when you give time to your motherhood project – do it wholly. Don’t wish you were in some other place, or doing another thing. Give it all you’ve got. Go inward first. Give it up, trust yourself, and then, push onward. Get rid of any “head trash,” and think of the time you spend now with your child as a gift.
More lessons from motherhood