Being a mother in the 21st Century is already stressful as it is as we are encountering with different challenges that only the 4 corners of our house have known. Just like postpartum depression right after the laborious pregnancy, labor and childbirth, sleepless nights (and days), the never-ending battle between work and being a full-time mom, social media, etc. All of these definitely have an effect on our mood; behavior towards our growing little ball of sunshine and these greatly affects their mood and personality development.
We are surrounded with loads of information online and from the people around us, unintentionally ‘forcing’ us on a lot of things like the type of milk we give, first food to feed, to go organic or not, to rub on that lavender oil or give medicine, to go cloth or use a disposable diaper instead, best time for kids to sleep, to allow screen time or not, to use a carrier or buy a crib and a buggy instead, to buy passive, wooden toys or colorful, loud battery-operated ones, to get a nanny or be a stay-at-home mom, to spank or do gentle parenting, to enroll in a Montessori or explore homeschooling or forest curriculum–wait!!! one at a time puuuhhhlease!
Despite everything mentioned, plus filter-perfect grammable photos and fun Facebook posts and video clips that makes some of us insecure and anxious with our personal choices and most of the time make us question if we are doing it the ‘right’ way, we moms still rock it at the 21st century..you know why?
- We have a lot of options on how we want to raise our children.
- Yes, I may be going against what i wrote few words earlier, but these options that are in front of us are our opportunities to discern as to how we want to raise our kids. All of these options come with a price or trade-ins, and we are here to weigh on our priorities and hey! no one really perfected motherhood..and in all honesty, our own imperfections sort of ‘damage’ our children one way or another but these also make us human. My point is, whatever choices we make, I bet that in our minds it’s the best option for us at the moment. One option may be better to another but may not ring true to us and it’s OK..don’t be too hard on yourself dear.
- Yes, I may be going against what i wrote few words earlier, but these options that are in front of us are our opportunities to discern as to how we want to raise our kids. All of these options come with a price or trade-ins, and we are here to weigh on our priorities and hey! no one really perfected motherhood..and in all honesty, our own imperfections sort of ‘damage’ our children one way or another but these also make us human. My point is, whatever choices we make, I bet that in our minds it’s the best option for us at the moment. One option may be better to another but may not ring true to us and it’s OK..don’t be too hard on yourself dear.
- We are surrounded with communities, support groups and a tribe of our own.
- It’s great to be a mother nowadays because with just a click on Facebook, we get to be a member of online groups that can help us with our queries from breastfeeding, homeschooling, babywearing, cloth diapering, name it! in the past, our ancestors thrived and survived a lot from everything around them because they have a village that protects them and help them raise their offspring and this is still true to us in the 21st century.
Indeed, it takes a village to raise a child.
We can form our own tribe as we share mundane, messy motherhood while we share what we know on certain matters. Be it online or in-person, communities, groups and tribes help us with our mothering journey. We are never alone in this journey.
- It’s great to be a mother nowadays because with just a click on Facebook, we get to be a member of online groups that can help us with our queries from breastfeeding, homeschooling, babywearing, cloth diapering, name it! in the past, our ancestors thrived and survived a lot from everything around them because they have a village that protects them and help them raise their offspring and this is still true to us in the 21st century.
- We still marvel on the simplest things.
- Even if technology is way more advanced right now–with things we never really imagined happening, the simplest things still take up a lot of our heart and much more valuable than any thing in this world and that level of appreciation is way beyond words.
We marvel on the first babble of our infants–those syllables that make no sense at all is recorded on our phones, posted online, get a lot of likes and hearts! those crooked lines and curves that our preschoolers draw, saying that it’s a picture of us, or it’s a house or a flower, is hanged on the wall or on the refrigerator for everyone to see and appreciate,.a pile of blocks and they said it’s a big building or a mixture of sand and leaves which for them is a yummy home-cooked meal for mommy is soooo heartwarming! right? how about a dose of sweaty hugs and sticky kisses, as they say, “aywavyu! you’re the best hoooman!”
These simple things matter to us more..they are the best creations, best words, best drawings, best food,.and that, my dear momfriend is why we rock motherhood.
- Even if technology is way more advanced right now–with things we never really imagined happening, the simplest things still take up a lot of our heart and much more valuable than any thing in this world and that level of appreciation is way beyond words.
Ok, i’m going to stop rambling right now because my energetic preschooler is climbing on my back, while my sleepy toddler is feeding on my left breast while I’m typing my thoughts with my right hand—i know, i know, feels like a superwoman! but superwoman here is tired–sooo freakin’ tired..time to grab my cold coffee and wake up my sanity..and hopefully they ‘decide’ to sleep since it’s raining heavily outside right now–super great time for a quick snooze for them (i hope they realize that one, hahaha!) and a quick break for me, maybe few episodes of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. or browse on my Spotify-headphones on and volume up for some OST from Mamma Mia Here We Go Again–ahhhh the dream for a Mom-Me-Time!!
ciao!
PS: they played instead. so, yeah..the dream? hmm. that ship just sailed.
let’s try again tomorrow. ❤
Babywear Smart 