Mum. Your new job title. Inarguably your most important role yet.
You will feel the joy of the small human you’ve created looking at you like you are their sun, their moon, their entire world. Because you are. You are their universe, in the same way that they will now be the centre of yours.
These may be the early days, but they’re some of the most precious. And they go by all too quickly. It’s said that the nights are long and the days are short, so soak in the magic as well as the mess of all of it. It won’t be long before you feel like you have weathered some storms. But with the storms comes wisdom – and a strength that you never realised you had.
You will shed countless tears, wash countless loads of laundry, tidy up countless toys, and wipe countless snotty noses, countless dirty bottoms, and countless sticky fingers and faces. But you’ll do so much more than that too.
You’ll teach someone to walk, to talk, to share, and to be kind. You’ll help them understand their feelings, communicate what they need and climb their own mountains as they push to do things for themselves, as they fail and as they try again. You’ll show them what resilience and persistence look like. You’ll show them how to grateful and how to be gracious. You’ll show them how to make friends and how to be a friend. Because they’re watching you Mama.
Just like you are watching them too. You’ll come to know what lights them up and what makes them laugh. You’ll watch with awe as they grow into exactly who they are meant to become – and along the way you will support each of your children in their own unique and special way.
Because parenting isn’t just about teaching; you’ll also be learning. Our children are our greatest teachers. They will teach you to slow down, they will teach you that you can’t control everything, and they will teach you that there’s magic everywhere if you look with child-like wonder. Together, you will change the world; you already have.
It’s likely that you will never feel so touched, wanted, needed and demanded on as you will in the next couple of the years; it can seem endless and some days it can feel simply impossible to win.
Our children don’t come with instruction manuals, and often you will just be trying to figure things out as you go along. You may not feel that you’re getting it right all the time, but please know Mama that your best is good enough. That you are seen, you are loved, and you are amazing.
You’ve got this!