When I was younger and people were pressuring me to get pregnant, I kept thinking, “How am I supposed to have a baby when I still feel like one? More than that, how can I possible be ready to have a baby?”

My conclusion is that no one is ever ready to have a baby. How could they be? This is something that you have never been through and it is a scary, emotional, and amazing process.

When I was preparing to write this article, I came across a blog that covered parenting in the early 40’s. Parenting was obviously different back then but I guess I didn’t realize how different until I read this article in particular.

“My grandmother used to tell the story about how she forgot my mother at the grocery store in the early 40s. She walked up to the store with my mother sleeping in her carriage, parked it outside with all the other sleeping babies (I’ll let that sink in), went inside to do her shopping, then walked home forgetting that she’d taken the baby with her. She quickly realized her mistake and walked back and retrieved my mother who was still sleeping outside the store.” Amy Morrison, The Pregnant Chicken.

Imagine the horror!

Over the years, the process of bringing up a child has changed. I’m not saying that one was is better than the other but what I am saying is that we are a lot more pressured to be the perfect parent.

To the untrained eye, bringing up a child may seem rather easy. We bathe them, feed them, and then they sleep, right? Unfortunately, that is not the case. I say that like it is a bad thing but in the end, parenting is so much more than that in every way imaginable. It is a difficult process that will never be mastered, but should it be? I don’t think so. Every one of our kids is a certain way because we don’t have this thing called parenting mastered and that is okay.

My point is that parenting methods are constantly changing and we have to constantly keep up with them. No one has ever done it like this before. Keep your chin up and remind yourself that you’re doing a great job!