New Mama’s Day: Three Tips to Remember as a Mom

Today’s Mother’s Day contributor is Jen!

Jen is a boring business analyst by day, college student by night, and rockstar mommy ’round the clock. She is excited to celebrate her first Mother’s Day with her adorable 8 month old son Levi.

You can read more from Jen on her blog Life With Levi or connect with her on Twitter and Facebook.

Three Tips to Remember as a Mom

Being a new mom is tough. You’re figuring out this whole child-rearing thing for the first time. There are lots of people giving you all sorts of advice. The research studies seems to contradict each other. There’s a person that you created that is totally and completely dependent on you.

Wow. Take that in for a moment. You created someone. You made a person. A real living and breathing human being. Ok, maybe you had a little bit of help.

Partner, husband, sperm donor, God…there’s someone that helped get us here, but we’re here, and I think we should start by celebrating that. This Mother’s Day, I’d love for all moms to focus on themselves.

While celebrating, I’d like you to remember 3 things:

You Created A Person

In and of itself, that’s something to celebrate. For 9 months, give or take, you made the little person staring back at you. How cool is that?

We’ve all worked on projects in school or at work that required you to produce something. Maybe a sales presentation, book report, diorama, who knows? All I know is that whatever you created before, no matter how cool, has been eclipsed with this new creation. You made a person. I bet it’s a cute person, too. Celebrate that!

You’ve Made It This Far

Whether your child is one day old or one million days (I haven’t done the math, maybe more), you’ve made it here. Pat yourself on the back. Seriously, though, I think it’s important to celebrate the small milestones. Parenting can be tough – take your victories where you can.

You Know What You’re Doing

Ok, this one can be tough for some people to accept. But it’s completely true. Think about the two points I already made – You created a person, and you’ve made it this far. Obviously you’ve done something right.

If your child isn’t sleeping through the night, isn’t eating solids, isn’t potty trained – forget about that for right now. Kids are on their own schedule. Comparing your child to another is futile, because they’re all so different.

In that same vein, so is comparing your parenting style. No two people parent exactly the same way. So if you’re comparing yourself to your own mom, your mentor, the supermom neighbor down the block – STOP. Those people aren’t raising your child – you are. And you’re doing ok. Trust your instincts. You’re doing a great job.

I hope that everyone this Mother’s Day takes time to celebrate themselves. You’re a mom. You’re shaping the future. And you deserve celebration. Today and every other day of the year!

Darcy Zalewski

Darcy is the founder of “Life With Darcy and Brian,” where she combines her love for education, board games, and crafting to create engaging learning experiences for kids. Her creative projects and writing have been featured in outlets like The Toy Insider, CafeMom, Mom.com, Parents.com, Country Living, and The Pioneer Woman.