Parenting today!
The joy of being a parent comes with its own set of challenges. Why? Because I am an individual with my own baggage from my past and my spouse too is his own unique person with his own baggage from his past. When I hold this tiny newborn in my hands the sense of responsibility hits me like a ton of bricks.
You know when we were younger, I believed I would be an excellent mum. Do you know why? Because I would be the official baby sitter in our area. I loved kids and kids loved me. I was able to engage them, feed them, change them. And I believed truly that parenting would be a piece of cake. Well, the first night our baby didn’t stop crying (we later realized it was colic) was the night I realized that nothing prepares you for parenting in the real world. I realized when the going got tough while I was babysitting, I could always ‘return the baby’ – to his mother of course. And no matter how long I spent baby sitting the little one, time would come to an end and I would get back to ‘my world’. Well, this now was my world – baby and all! There was no one to whom I could ‘return the baby’. This is regardless of whether you are the mother or father.
The great news is that if you do not have a good support system at home, you can always have a good coach to walk you through each phase with your child.
Sometimes you need a good coach even when you have a good support system at home. You need the objectivity and reasoning without the emotional drama that is an essential ingredient of family support.
A good coach helps you enjoy the moment with your child because you are not living in fear of functioning from past conditioning nor are you looking ahead with fear of what is to come.
Sometimes you catch yourself making unhealthy choices for yourself as a parent or/and for your child. You realize it comes from a conditioning from your past. You need to heal even as you raise your child.
So, all in all, parenting is great experience. We just need to be mindful in our ways. Cheers to being conscious parents. Keep the faith!