Adjusting to being parents
We’ll save you the suspense… you are NOT a ‘Perfect’ parent!
But the pressure to appear like you are - especially in the social media age - can be extreme.
Becoming a parent is such a personal journey; no book, website or stream of well-meaning advice can prepare you for your experience of parenthood, and the unique pressures it will place on your health, wellbeing, finances, and of course, relationship.
Perfection is not expected nor required in a parent. Being available, being consistent, and actively providing children with love, acceptance, safety and nurturing can be enough.
Your journey almost certainly will be different to what you imagined. Children with special needs bring their own joys and pressures, and the length and intensity of care required can place even greater pressures on a couple.
And just as children have different personalities and needs, so do parents. When a couple invariably have different styles of parenting and different beliefs about child rearing, conflict can occur.
Relationship counselling can help you explore and better understand you and your partner’s parenting styles, and the influences which formed them. You may also clarify what your own needs are as individuals and as a couple, and how these needs interact with those of your family.