The Wholehearted Parenting Manifesto

This is a follow up on last month’s article about shame vs. guilt—based on Brene Brown’s TED talk.  When I think of the words shame and guilt, the first thing that comes to my mind are parents and mothers to be more specific.  Sometimes I joke around that mothers seem to give birth to those shame and guilt along with the baby because as soon as a child is born, mothers start feeling bad about what they are not doing “perfectly” or wondering if they should be doing what everybody else is doing.  There are so many parenting books out there that tell you what the “right thing to do is” and that your child should behave a certain way in order to fit societal norms.  The truth is that every family culture is unique, every child is unique (with his or her own norms), and there is not a single child that is born with an instruction manual.  Therefore, it is normal for there to be an element of “trial and error” when raising a child.  Many parents will feel uncertain about decisions that they make and mistakes will happen.  Read the The Wholehearted Parenting Manifesto, written by Brene Brown (see below).