Westchester NY Moms
  • About Us
  • Calendar
  • Blog
    • Blog Topics
  • Things To Do
    • Indoor Fun
    • Outdoor Fun
    • Camp
  • Love Local
    • Be Prepared
    • Give Back
    • The Towns of Westchester
  • Resources
    • Education
    • Parenting
    • Music
    • Fitness & Health
    • Shopping
    • Beauty & Fashion
  • Contact Us

Blog

RX

5/5/2016

 
Picture
Photo Credit: Jane Goodrich Photography
“The more anthropologists and social scientists understand about human parents, the more emphatically they conclude that we were designed to raise children in small co-operative groups, and not in nuclear families.

Parenting is meant to take place where help is always at hand, in a collective setting where even the children begin rehearsing child-rearing skills from a young age.

The main reason why we struggle, why our patience runs short, is that our nuclear-family situation is entirely un-natural, unreasonable and unsustainable.
​

No parent is meant to be at home alone with one or more children; it is Nature’s design to always have a fresh pair of hands nearby that we can turn to long before tiredness becomes exhaustion.”

So are we doing this parenting thing all wrong? Can I actually attribute my impatience, exhaustion, anxiety and craziness to an “unnatural and unreasonable” situation?

Is there an actual diagnosis to parenting in 2015?

I think doctors, pharmaceutical companies and alcohol companies have known about this diagnosis and kept it hidden from us all this time. They so easily prescribe medications for our said “depression, exhaustion anxiety and craziness."  Couldn’t they have prescribed us a trip to the movies, a dinner alone without kids,  or simply time to ourselves?

So we find ourselves in our little nuclear family of one or two parents taking it all on ourselves when it really does take a village.  But what do you if your village lives in Canada or across the world? What if you have no village at all?

We have family and friends who are there for us. But when it comes to the day to day operations it can be a very overwhelming task to run that little village alone.

When my twins were born I was very lucky. I had a huge village ready to lend a hand. My mother lived with us for three months and then I stayed with her in Canada for the summer. I told my husband I was not coming home unless there was help waiting for me. I saw every friend and family member at that time as a potential “baby holder.”

But everyone has to get back to their own day to day lives. And moms and dads are left on their own to figure out the tricky, complicated crazy world of parenting.

So if there is a diagnosis is there also a cure?

Remember that is okay to ask for help. It is perfectly permissible to say I can’t handle this today and to feel a need to walk away. We should not feel guilty about asking someone else to take over but instead welcome it. It takes a village to raise a child but it also takes a village to raise a parent.

I don’t know all the answers but I will prescribe this Motherly MD advice to you: take two minutes to yourself and call me in the morning…

Marcie Gandell is a full time Westchester NY Mom to three boys and a part-time web designer. She is also a cook, housekeeper, chauffeur, handyman, expert negotiator and an excellent juggler!

Read more from her at her blog, Random Stupid Thoughts, a Mom's View of the World.
Sissi
5/5/2016 02:50:15 pm

Very well said!


Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    October 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016

    Categories

    All
    About Us
    Art
    Beauty & Fashion
    Business
    Camp
    Career
    Community
    Creativity
    Education
    Fitness & Health
    Food
    Give Back
    Hea
    Home
    Indo
    Indoor Fun
    Mommy & Me
    Music
    Outdoor Fun
    Pare
    Parenting
    Real Estate
    Shopping
    Things To Do
    Virtual

Connect With Us
Home
About
© 2022-2023  Westchester NY Moms & Strategic Joy Communications LLC. This website includes paid advertising and endorsements.
Photos used under Creative Commons from Clotee Pridgen Allochuku, Kofi_MT, mrsdkrebs, jsax2015, Jeff Sandquist, Israel_photo_gallery, gabrielsaldana, Thanks for over 2 million views!!, Castles, Capes & Clones, Ted Drake, Kurt Magoon, CS_McMahon, chrismetcalfTV, Soren Wolf, Baker County Tourism, The Chapman Cultural Center, John Drake Flickr, photoverulam, 7263255, IQRemix, Art4TheGlryOfGod, Joe Mabel, Mike Miley, ell brown, tedeytan, Rob.Bertholf, flickingerbrad, MoToMo, Larry Lamsa, DieselDemon, Bobolink, Richard Ricciardi, gabrielsaldana, Montgomery County Planning Commission, beaucon, Jorick77, Still Vision, Vironevaeh, RLHyde, wuestenigel, mliu92, jennisweat, Larry1732, Michael Bentley, USDAgov, Tim Evanson, Karolina Kabat, deejayqueue, Strelka Institute photo, JohnSeb, Base Camp Baker, Dance Photographer - Brendan Lally, Fibonacci Blue, Larry1732, daryl_mitchell, Miroslav Vajdić, Peter O'Connor aka anemoneprojectors, susivinh, Larry1732, dancingnomad3, sarahstierch, Base Camp Baker, A J Thackway, hoyasmeg, Salvation Army USA West, quinn.anya, CapCase, Kirt Edblom
  • About Us
  • Calendar
  • Blog
    • Blog Topics
  • Things To Do
    • Indoor Fun
    • Outdoor Fun
    • Camp
  • Love Local
    • Be Prepared
    • Give Back
    • The Towns of Westchester
  • Resources
    • Education
    • Parenting
    • Music
    • Fitness & Health
    • Shopping
    • Beauty & Fashion
  • Contact Us