Thank you for speaking to something I find difficult. Being a Mother and child therapist and wanting to use those experiences to pass on what I feel could be helpful to others but in an ethical way that still allows me to be human and 3 dimensional.
Hi Emma, I really appreciate this post as it is something I have been pondering a lot recently. Mostly about how content I’m consuming makes me feel as a parent. I think I have fallen into a trap of needing to see examples of others parenting examples to ‘measure’ or try to aim for to give me guidance in some very uncertain and difficult times recently with my own children. However, increasingly realising I either feel bad about my parenting comparing it to people’s ‘ideal’ day in the life etc and not really getting the nuance of their life . If that makes sense! I think it further removes our own agency and intuition when we see too many specific examples, but I also see how in my most vulnerable moments some of these examples were exactly what I needed to navigate me.
I’ve wondered if often we look for examples of parenting when we feel lost and when we are feeling a little more balanced these specifics are too much. I find this a really interesting conversation, thank you.
In the memoir-writing ‘world’ there’s a huge amount of conversation (rightly) about how writers can share their own stories, while maintaining the privacy of people who can/ will not consent to sharing theirs. It’s really hard!! Especially when talking about parenting/ motherhood is concerned as it inevitably requires saying *something* about your children. Conversely, there’s also an imperative to resist the societal pressure to silence women’s voices so it’s a real ethical dilemma and I look forward to seeing how you navigate it x
Oh mate well now I'm scared :) Although I feel like it's a step into a more personal share but with the same boundaries I've always held. I guess that black and white/rule based thinking has its advantages when it comes to holding self-imposed ethical lines
Thank you for speaking to something I find difficult. Being a Mother and child therapist and wanting to use those experiences to pass on what I feel could be helpful to others but in an ethical way that still allows me to be human and 3 dimensional.
Hi Emma, I really appreciate this post as it is something I have been pondering a lot recently. Mostly about how content I’m consuming makes me feel as a parent. I think I have fallen into a trap of needing to see examples of others parenting examples to ‘measure’ or try to aim for to give me guidance in some very uncertain and difficult times recently with my own children. However, increasingly realising I either feel bad about my parenting comparing it to people’s ‘ideal’ day in the life etc and not really getting the nuance of their life . If that makes sense! I think it further removes our own agency and intuition when we see too many specific examples, but I also see how in my most vulnerable moments some of these examples were exactly what I needed to navigate me.
I’ve wondered if often we look for examples of parenting when we feel lost and when we are feeling a little more balanced these specifics are too much. I find this a really interesting conversation, thank you.
In the memoir-writing ‘world’ there’s a huge amount of conversation (rightly) about how writers can share their own stories, while maintaining the privacy of people who can/ will not consent to sharing theirs. It’s really hard!! Especially when talking about parenting/ motherhood is concerned as it inevitably requires saying *something* about your children. Conversely, there’s also an imperative to resist the societal pressure to silence women’s voices so it’s a real ethical dilemma and I look forward to seeing how you navigate it x
Oh mate well now I'm scared :) Although I feel like it's a step into a more personal share but with the same boundaries I've always held. I guess that black and white/rule based thinking has its advantages when it comes to holding self-imposed ethical lines