Parental Influence
I really love being a parent. My daughter's have brought me a sense of purpose and joy that I never knew was possible. The cliches and boring sayings are all true. You're life will never be the same-and thats ok.
So with that in mind, my biggest challenge in becoming a parent has been knowing how to parent. Never has so much advice (solicited or unsolocited) been so readily available. Some of the most popular social media accounts I follow on twitter, Instagram and TikTok are parenting accounts. Videos of children eating their vegetables, lisening to their parents, and excelling in life bombard my timelines. These short, composed, and heavily edited videos serve as are nice examples of how it could be- but how much should I believe.
Its important to remember social media influencers don't do this for free. Whether it be actual currency in the form of money or emotional currency in the form of followers and attention- theres a reason they share their lives so readily and freely. A lot of these accounts are selling courses, plans or an agenda. One of the most important accounts in my life is "Big Little Feelings." My partner turned me onto them and often sends me Instagram messages of their latest post. We have implemented a good amount of their teachings and techniques into how we interact and conflict resolve with our two year old. NMy two year old is incredbily well behaved and does a great job expressing her feelings in a safe and healthy way. How much of this is based on what we've done and learned vs. her natural personality is the question I find myself asking. The creators of "Big Little Feelings" are both mom's of toddlers with one being a licensed marriage and family therapist (with a concentration in ages 1-6), and the other one has a background in "international maternal education.(an incredibly vauge area of study in my view, but sounds good right?) Their ideas and thoughts are viable and have been helpful, but could this just be placebo effect- would my daughter have responded well to what we were doing in the first place? Should I be putting so much faith in two people who are new parents themselves? What if their children grow up to be anti vaxxers? I dont know. All I can do is continue to learn and adapt.
