There are chances you have heard this said before. We write tests to pass school, tests to drive a car, we get manuals with our washing machines, we need to sit through intense interviews to get a job. But we just have to have sex once to make a kid, and well we don’t have a card with our ID number on it and a terrible black and white photo saying this person is ready to be a parent.

Why is that?

Isn’t being a parent one of the biggest responsibilities any human can have? We are raising generations that will outlive us, change the world after us, yet we still mess it up a couple times.

I must admit I never read any books on how to be a parent and still haven’t. Not that I think that is wrong. I just can’t finish any books of late – I pass out of exhaustion. So far, year 3 of being a parent and I think I got this right?

The funny thing is, I don’t see a lioness, reaching out for a booklet on how to raise her kid, I don’t see the mama bear googling why her cub is crying and not wanting to sleep? What the heck happened to us? Sometimes I wish we were closer to our animal counter parts and our instincts to know how to nurture were more intense.

I remember how I battled to get Skylar to latch to my breast while still in hospital. I felt useless at the time, this was meant to be natural and I should just “know what to do”. Well I did not, I had to have a specialist come in and help and laser done to prepare the damage already. Why did I not know?

Fast forward to now, 2 kids, and currently a stay at home mom, the things I know now I wish I could of told myself as I sat in that hospital bed battling to feed my child.

Firstly I would of said – ”Mama you got this, don’t doubt yourself”, “somethings will be instinct don’t worry”, “it’s okay to be learning and ask questions”.

But most of all Mama “Trust your way” – because we are complex beings our children react differently to the world and so do we. Trust you will know what is best for your family and how you see fit to raise them.

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