April 17, 2007
All my life, I grew up thinking that someday, I would "be somebody." We, women are taught from the time we are in elementary school that we can be anything a man can be and more. Then, we spend thousands of dollars, time and energy in universities studying for a profession. We may even get to work in that profession for a while. But once we have children, everything changes……..
Yes, we can continue to work and many women do for various reasons BUT something suffers. Usually BOTH work and homelife are compromised. In addition, women are stressed, tired and their health is at risk. Now the choice that I was blessed to choose (because I know some have no choice) was stay home and be there as much as I can for my children.
A woman is so excited when she has a baby. As soon as she is pregnant, she looks forward to having that child in her arms. What she doesn’t realize is how much her life changes after that baby. From waking up in the middle of the night to feed that child repeatedly, to changing stinky diapers, to running in and out of the shower quickly because the baby is crying for you, to not being able to even go to the bathroom alone–it is an adjustment to say the least. One, most of us are not prepared for. In addition, most of us don’t live near our families anymore. Personally, living on the westcoast is across the continent from my parents in NYC. However, even those that do live near our family have a hard time getting along with them around the children. Why? Because our parents learned things differently then we did and do things differently.
My mother didn’t breastfeed at all. She was told formula was superior. She can’t understand why I would breastfeed. She thinks I am "crazy." My grandmother-in-law was taught to let babies cry because it’s good for their lungs, even when they are newborn and hungry! One family member says to make the child finish everything on their plate and the other doesn’t. One grandparent wants to give the child candy to make them their friend and the other is complaining how "chubby" the child’s getting.So how can we produce happy and healthy kids in a world that doesn’t even know what that looks like? Stay tuned as I share more ideas…….
All my life, I grew up thinking that someday, I would "be somebody." We, women are taught from the time we are in elementary school that we can be anything a man can be and more. Then, we spend thousands of dollars, time and energy in universities studying for a profession. We may even get to work in that profession for a while. But once we have children, everything changes……..
Yes, we can continue to work and many women do for various reasons BUT something suffers. Usually BOTH work and homelife are compromised. In addition, women are stressed, tired and their health is at risk. Now the choice that I was blessed to choose (because I know some have no choice) was stay home and be there as much as I can for my children.
A woman is so excited when she has a baby. As soon as she is pregnant, she looks forward to having that child in her arms. What she doesn’t realize is how much her life changes after that baby. From waking up in the middle of the night to feed that child repeatedly, to changing stinky diapers, to running in and out of the shower quickly because the baby is crying for you, to not being able to even go to the bathroom alone–it is an adjustment to say the least. One, most of us are not prepared for. In addition, most of us don’t live near our families anymore. Personally, living on the westcoast is across the continent from my parents in NYC. However, even those that do live near our family have a hard time getting along with them around the children. Why? Because our parents learned things differently then we did and do things differently.
My mother didn’t breastfeed at all. She was told formula was superior. She can’t understand why I would breastfeed. She thinks I am "crazy." My grandmother-in-law was taught to let babies cry because it’s good for their lungs, even when they are newborn and hungry! One family member says to make the child finish everything on their plate and the other doesn’t. One grandparent wants to give the child candy to make them their friend and the other is complaining how "chubby" the child’s getting.So how can we produce happy and healthy kids in a world that doesn’t even know what that looks like? Stay tuned as I share more ideas…….
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