A Mothers Curse

When we become mother's we gain what I call a mother's curse.  It means that no matter what we are doing for our children we are always questioning whether we can do it better or at least differently.  It seems we are expected to have received a life long knowledge of how to raise children on the day they are born, an instruction manual if you like that tells us what we should be doing when.

We worry about what and how much they are eating/drinking, what they are doing with their time, should we be going out to work or not, are they developing at the appropriate rate and the list goes on.  Don't get me wrong I know alot of dad's out there have similar worries but lets face it rightly or wrongly it is assumed that the father will go out to work and the mother will stay home and look after the children.

I received a great piece of advice from a parenting support service here in Perth when Mia was just 4 weeks old.  This advice was that a happy and relaxed mother makes a happy and relaxed child.  Over the past 2 1/2 years I have tried to remember that when I am stressing about the little things or feeling guilty about not spending enough time with our daughter. 

During my journey of being a mum I have also learnt not to be judgemental of other mother's when they are out and about and their children are being a nightmare.  Sometimes all these mother's need is a small nod of encouragement or a smile.  Lets face it what mother out there can say they have never had a behaviour issue in public with their children.  Wouldn't it have been nice to receive looks of understanding rather than judgement from others.

So as I ramble on my advice to mother's is you are doing a great job.  Don't stress the little things, take the opportunity to take a step back and enjoy your children and know that if you are happy they will follow in your footsteps and be happy too.