Firstly, I want to make it very clear that I am in no way giving parenting advice or offering expertise. That would be almost impossible as my experience (or lack there of) is extremely short. I am talking explicitly about my own life and my own journey as a parent.
I have a large network of family and friends who are all awesome, loving people. Between Tonga and I we have six parents, three grandparents and numerous brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. There is a huge mixture of parenting styles and ways to discipline children. When I became a parent, I didn't think about the "parenting style" I wanted to use. I was just running on instinct. On what I know from my parents. Now I'm beginning to question which direction my parenting journey will take. I am in NO way a perfect parent. I often struggle (and I mean often). I struggle daily with how to approach my sons behaviour and I'm not ashamed to admit that I do yell. I have even smacked him before. At the moment I'm really struggling with setting boundaries with Noah and trying to stick to them. Consistency is hard when there are so many parents around us offering advice and well meaning criticism. I take things like that to heart and it really effects me when people comment on my parenting in front of Noah. How will Noah be able to respect me as a parent, If other people are struggling to do this. I know, in my heart, that people are just trying to help when they offer suggestions or try to discipline Noah. Sometimes I am unaware of things that I say and do that might come across as hurtful or mean at the time and I do struggle with admitting that I am wrong. I want to make everyone feel included and important while maintaining my children's respect. I would like the chance to parent my kids in my own way and this is in no way meant to disrespect other peoples way of parenting. I want to be clear that my own choices as a mother do not discount other parents' choices. I'm just trying to do my best here. I feel like the people around us hold a wealth of knowledge with life and with children and I'm not afraid to ask for your opinion or your help and I will do this from time to time. I do recognise that my own insecurity as a parent might be causing me to hear helpful advice as criticism and this is something I need to work on with my husband. I love that we are lucky enough to have so much love and care for our babies! I just want people to trust that we can raise our children with the same amount of love my parents gave me. I know there will be a lot of bumps on the way and we will get there eventually. I just want my parents to be proud of the parents I know we can be.
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About me
Sarah. Mother. Wife. Daughter. Adrenaline auto injectors are not funded in New Zealand, Please sign the petition to change this. Our family is affected by anaphylaxis as are so many others. You can make a difference!
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August 2016
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