There is constant pressure put on moms from the time we become pregnant until we give birth and beyond to be the “perfect parent.” We are continuously scrutinized for every little thing we do that isn’t exactly what another person thinks is right.
I spent a pretty significant amount of the past year trying to meet the expectations of everybody else and I stressed out over every little detail of my parenting journey. I listened to the onslaught of unsolicited advice and to my surprise, most of it didn’t even work.
It took a long time, but I finally realized that this journey is my daughter’s and mine. She makes the rules and nobody else can accurately tell me how to raise my daughter besides her.
I am the one who gave birth to her. I am the one who changes her diapers, I am the one who spends every morning feeding her breakfast and every night putting her to bed.
We try way too hard to be perfect and for what? To show everyone how good of a parent we are? By stressing ourselves out over what other people tell us to do, we aren’t only affecting our well-being, but we’re affecting our relat
ionship with our little ones as well.
There was no better feeling than the rush of relief that fell over me once I decided to make my parenting decisions based off of how I felt and what I was thinking rather than taking into account what others were telling me.
If you’re reading this and you can relate, I want you to know this:
You are mama. You are the decision maker. Do not be scared to stand up for your decisions. From the second our little bundles enter the world, our mothering instincts kick in and while we may not think we know what the heck we’re doing, something deep inside of our hearts is telling us exactly what we need to do.
Of all the unsolicited advice you recieve, there is a pretty good chance that like 5%, if any, of it will end up being true for you. Motherhood requires constant adaptation. Every baby is different and not one baby is going to act exactly the same. One may need a pacifier and another may prefer to be rocked to sleep.
I don’t want any new mother to feel like she is a bad mom for the decisions she makes. So long as you are actively trying to raise your little one to be a decent human being, I promise everything will turn out in your favor.