What is the hardest thing about parenting?
It is the lack of sleep, the loss of freedom, the pulling it together when you want to fall apart, or the way that parenting challenges us to look in the mirror and work on ourselves?
Magda Gerber said, “Parenting is the most demanding profession.” Don’t get me wrong, I love my children and cherish many of our times together, but it is also hard. Someone said It takes a village to raise a child. Long ago and still in many cultures this is how children are raised. It’s not supposed to be a job we do alone, it can be if you really want it that way, but children can benefit from the village too. Everyone does it differently. Our parents, our neighbors, friends, children’s teachers, and that’s okay. I look at does my child have a voice. Resources for help at their fingertips but also community support from friends, family and neighbors. Who can you call at two in the morning? Who will answer the phone in the middle of the day because they know my call means I need you (or I need a break). Who can you be vulnerable with without judgement? Sometimes it seems we have families on these islands trying to hold it together. From a distance the island looks peaceful and serene, but when you get close you see the broken branches, floods, and decay.
Everybody needs somebody! We are wired for connection