A Parenting Moment…

We all want to do what’s best for our kids. Yet, with all of the conflicting information out there, how do we know what that is?

When I listen to my intuition, is it really my intuition I’m hearing? Or is it generational trauma handed down from mother to daughter that I’m just perpetuating? How can I tell the difference?

Being a parent is a trip. It’s amazing, heartbreaking, and anxiety provoking. We are all trying really hard to support our kids, teach them, and help them become who they are meant to be in the world.

One thing I’ve noticed is just how much guilt there is stacked on us moms. If we don’t use the right foods or the trendiest ‘whatever it is,’ layers of shame can find their way onto us. Sometimes it’s on Facebook or Instagram, but usually the harshest criticisms come from our own minds. Our own perfectionism demands that we have to do everything right or our kids will suffer.

The crazy thing is that we tend to treat others in our lives in variations of how we treat ourselves. So, if we are super critical of ourselves, when we are really stressed out - we just might become critical of those around us.

The answer then, is grace. Grace for our imperfections and failings. Grace as a blanket layered over all of those missteps because our kids don’t need us to be perfect. They need us to be real. They need to see us mess up, own it, and keep going. They need to see us forgive ourselves so that they can learn to forgive themselves for their own mistakes too.

That’s probably one of sneakiest and hardest parts of parenting, learning how to re-parent ourselves. Learning all over again how to love ourselves well so that we can love others in our lives well too.

It really is all about grace.