From the moment you are a mother to be, you start weaving dreams about the new life forming inside you. Right from the color of the receiving blanket for the hospital to the nursery for the baby, you plan it all. You and your partner talk about being ready for that new parenting phase.
Then after a thrilling span of 8-9 months, you officially become a parent. Parenting - a term we all imbibe when the little one enters our life. Unlike any other course, parenting doesn't come with a manual. Hence starts the trial and error parenting phase with the newborn in your life.
You being a first-time mother goes through a lot of emotional ups and downs in your motherhood journey. Is the breast milk enough, is the nutrients enough, is the diaper good enough, am I giving enough time for the baby - the questions arise in your mind. If you are a working mother, the guilt adds up even stronger.
To add to that the innumerous unsolicited advice from the seasoned parents in your family, your relatives, the well-meaning cousins, and so on. You browse social media and there too are plastered happy cheery faces of new parents with their perfect kids in a perfect location. All add up to that pressure for attaining a 'perfect parenting' quo.
If you observe closley, the phrase 'perfect' is often used in conjunction with the parenting phase.
But is perfect parenting really a thing? Does perfect parenting even exist? Let's see.
Perfect parenting is a term coined and popularized by social media sites and pop culture. It basically means 'the-know-it-all' parenting style where the kids and parents are always deemed as perfect.
But is perfect parenting really a thing?
The constant need for perfect parenting phase and its effects:I believe more than fathers, mothers get into this striving for a 'perfect mom' state as they are constantly judged and monitored by the traditional society. Such moms also feel that they are failing in the first year of their motherhood phase as they are unable to rise up to societal motherhood expectations.
The modern drive to be a perfect parent is also fueled by economic instability in middle/upper-class families.
Studies reveal that many new moms often feel sad, overwhelmed, and fatigued owing to the constant perfect parenting pressure.
Does perfect parenting exist?No, perfect parenting is MYTH.
Perfect parenting doesn't exist. But I believe each parent and their parenting style is perfect in their own way. If the child/children are happy, secure and safe with their parents, parenting becomes perfect.
We become a parent, we make mistakes, we learn, we correct them and we keep on learning. Every parent is different, so is their parenting style. What works for one parent would not work for another and so on.
The reality is that kids do not need perfect parents but good ones.
How do you understand that instinct as a mother/father if you are being a good parent? By following your gut feel/ instincts and shutting down on the voices striving for 'perfection'.
I am really happy to see the brand Huggies which has come up with the #SahiWaliFeeling campaign where the pressure of perfect parenting is alleviated from the moms' shoulders so that she can enjoy a judgment-free motherhood. Huggies guides all millennial mothers reeling under the pressure of 'perfect parenting' to follow their inner voice and instincts to do what she feels is right. #SahiWaliFeeling celebrates the small successes that come with that confident parenting.
Huggies Wonder Pants with its bubble-bed technology and absorption of up to 12 hours, keeps the baby's skin dry and comfortable overnight. The USP of this diaper is the next-generation waistband designed to prevent red marks on the baby's waist. So the baby feels more comfortable in turn making it hassle-free for the mommies.
