Parenting - are you ready for it?

Being a good parent can be one of the most challenging tasks of our life. It's not really something that we are trained for. At least I don't remember a course called "Parenting 101" in my high school or college. How about you? We are just expected to know what we're doing as soon as the little one arrives. We are all in for a rude awakening!! Babies can be an enormous challenge!! Try this on for size. When I was a graduate student in psychology my first child came along - how did that happen I thought? My daughter turned out to have fairly severe food allergies and was allergic to every formula on the market. Her pediatrician was at a loss what to do, and my wife was unable to breast feed. Since my wife was also a juvenile diabetic and was unable to stay up half the night caring for the baby, guess who got the job?

On top of all of that, my child's food intolerance stayed severe until about 10 months of age. I was in for a crash course on projectile vomiting, dealing with a screaming baby much of the night, walking the baby all night, etc. And then I was off to class! I was definitely not prepared for this!! It's a miracle I graduated with my degree two years later.

We never know what to expect when our first child comes along. Will he/she be completely normal or present some special challenges? We want to give the child all our love, but at the same time provide the structure and discipline we have been told is so necessary. Finding the right balance for all of this can again be quite a challenge.

First-time parents have a special challenge. The mother is expected to be the perfect parent, the loving mother, the all-knowing, all-seeing expert. And yet, in most cases, we may be completely unprepared for this task. My goodness, where do all of these expectations come from? How do we suddenly transform from a somewhat immature adolescent or young adult to the all-knowing expert? Obviously we don't! We have to do our best, talk to our friends and family, search out good articles on the subject and hope we are doing something right. For concerned parents I suggest that you refer to this excellent resource: CLICK HERE