Do you find motherhood overwhelming? Have you been doing it for a few years and are still waiting for it to get easier? I know exactly how that feels. When I found out I was going to be a mom, I was completely unprepared.
Once that urine-soaked stick changed, the only thing my 30 years of experience provided was complete and utter panic. I was a teacher, for goodness sakes. I nurtured and cared for other people's children. I wasn't ready to take on my own child. Besides, I did teenagers, and it would be years before my baby would even be a tween. What was I going to do until then?
On our daughter's birth day, after 5 days of labor, they handed her to me. As they laid that squalling, writhing, quivering mess on my chest, she stopped mid-yell to look at me. Through the trepidation and exhaustion, we connected. I was a mom. That's when I apologized for all the mistakes I was going to make.
I spent the next decade or so worrying about messing up her life. I used all the skills I had developed as a teacher, and channeled them into parenting. I made mistakes (like forgetting the occasional birthday cake), but she seemed to recover nicely.
It wasn't until I reversed engineered my college-age daughter that I recognized what a fabulous job I had done. I hadn't ruined her life. She is an impressive, energetic, intelligent, young woman (objectively speaking). Somehow, despite my abundant fears, I turned out to be an Awesome Mom.
I sure wish I had known that while I was in the middle of it all. But motherhood can be pretty isolating at times. Without someone to hear your thoughts, self-perceptions never get challenged.
I'm sure many of you reading this consider yourselves as merely adequate moms, which is a shame, because, in fact, you are Awesome Moms.
-Awesome Moms create opportunities for their families.
-Awesome Moms seek knowledge, which is power.
-Awesome Moms build daughters into women, and sons into men.
-Awesome Moms change the world one child at a time.
-Awesome Moms make mistakes, and then correct (most of) them.
-Awesome Moms try and try and try. Then they go to sleep, and in the morning they try again.
That's what makes you awesome.
As a Parenting Skills Coach, my job is to help you recognize that. Join my Facebook group, The Mom Meet-Up: Raising Confident Girls, and let's connect.
