Ok, I’m going to be open and honest with you since we are all mommies or soon-to-be mommies. Who has felt the mommy fear? The fear that you have no idea what you are doing! I’m not talking about postpartum depression or anxiety, or the mommy guilt, I’m talking about the natural fear you have when you are now responsible for molding and teaching this little person everything there is in life and you have no idea what you are doing or how to accomplish such a large task.
This fear has hit me big time lately as my little guy is getting bigger and experiencing new things in life. We started swim lessons a few weeks ago and that was a huge fear moment for me. I had a million questions run through my brain…“Is he old enough for this…Is he ready for this…What if he hates it…What if he poops in the pool…” all reasonable and normal questions. My husband and I decided to give it a try, figuring the worst thing is we stop and try again later when he is a little older. The first class comes along and my fear starts to come true…my little man was not happy to be in the pool. There were tears and lots of clasped hands. We left the class doubting our decision and wondering if we should just stop the lessons.
Next week comes along and my husband and I are faced to answer the question of “do we go again”? Making my baby cry is like pure torture to me and I knew tears could be in our future. We decided though, to go again and give it one more chance. This time, little man loved the water! He smiled, splashed and even went into the instructors arms for underwater time without looking back for mommy. My fear was crushed, we are going to be just fine and putting him in swim lessons was perfectly ok to do.
What I’m learning, as a mom, is that you will doubt yourself, your choices, and the actions you take raising your child; but, in the end, everything will be alright. Having fear is normal, we have a big responsibility on our plates to create kind, smart, loving adults and I would think not having fear about your choices would make you crazy!
What is something you have feared with raising your little one?
