Our baby boomer parents might look at the title of this and scoff. Thinking we have no idea how good we have it. We have iPad, cell phones, computers, the internet, social media and so many more advances that they didn’t have while they were in the trenches of parenting. There are dozens of activities going on everywhere, all the time for families. We are a society of instant gratification and entertainment constantly at our fingertips.
Unfortunately, all of those new and exciting things bring with them new and more complex problems.
There are 15 different summer camps going on at any given moment, followed by endless extracurricular activities for our children. We don’t want our kids to miss out on this thing or that thing so we have our kids signed up for endless activities and still feel as though we are missing out yet we are exhausted.
Because we have unlimited access to the internet and information about anything, anywhere, any time, it brings more knowledge on subjects. We have access to studies, research and articles about any subject. Which all sounds great, right? Well, now as parents there are studies on subjects like the effects of too many toys on development and why you should keep your child in a car seat until they are 25. It’s mostly emotionally charged information. We don’t know what’s accurate or not. It’s a lot to process and it’s overwhelming.
We have so many choices on everything and that can be really tough. Because as a mother you analyze each and every choice you make for your child. Do you make your own baby food, how much screen time do you allow, which preschool do you choose? Seriously? And that’s just tip of the iceberg.
No matter what choices you make, there will always be 25 articles, books and social media posts proving your choice is wrong and will probably negatively impact your child causing them to need therapy forever.
There are too many choices out there for parents. And all of the choices are wrong in some way. The same things that make our lives easier also complicate it. Like Amazon Prime, we get our new bed sheets in two days. Which is amazing! But now our children believe that everything comes magically to your door for free, and in record time. Now waiting for anything is excruciating. Not to mention they never see money change hands so everything must be free or without consequence. You just click a button and POOF the video game you wanted is on its way.
The skewed perception doesn’t stop with our kids. Social media has caused every mom out there to fall victim to constant comparison. Everyone else’s lives look shiny and perfect from the screen of our smart phones. The pressure this places on moms everywhere is crippling. Nothing we will do will measure up to the Pinterest version of life we see online.
All we can do for ourselves and our kids is to make choices we feel good about and not get too wrapped up in all the opinions of others. Hang in there mama, you’re killin’ it!
