Every parent is trying their best. We can all approach our parenting with an attitude of grace. When we know better, we do better.
When many of us become parents, we are jolted from the dreamy state of anticipating our little one’s arrival to the reality of postpartum, newborn life. Both a joyful and exhausting time, that relentless newborn phase leaves us little room to think about parenting ideals when we are so desperately trying to meet the intense needs of tiny infants. When my child was just starting to (barely!) sleep through the night when he would skip his 3am nursing and I would get approximately four hours of consecutive sleep rather than two, I started reading the most gentle and inspiring book Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting by Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn.
It is such a calm in a sea of stress-inducing parenting books. I read it slowly and sometimes I only made it through a few paragraphs in between caring for the many needs of a newborn. It gave me perspective and space to consider my greatest wishes as a new parent and thoughtful encouragement and inspiration to strive to be present even during challenging moments. It continues to be a source of support and guidance to me. I now send it to all new parents with the wish that they find some of their own inspiration in it. It started me on my parenting path of endeavoring to know better and aim to do better.
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