Hello,
Welcome to the Spring Issue of Special Delivery, this issue is all about parental guilt, a parenting phenomenon that affects us all and lasts forever.
A few weeks ago I was watching Holly & Phil, as if watching daytime tv while eating your child’s last Easter egg wasn’t guilt inducing enough, they covered a feature on the perils of the bacteria hiding inside squeezy bath toys. Alarmed I immediately flew up to the bathroom and cleared our daughter’s beloved rubber duck collection. I hadn’t really paid much attention to the facts but didn’t want the stigma of being a parent who let their child play with rubber ducks. When our little one was thrashing around in protest at the unexpected and wildly unfair loss of her beloved ducky, I shamelessly retrieved the duck from the pedal bin and basked in my daughter’s adoration. My bewildered husband and I have decided to take a measured approach and keep rubber ducky but on the strict condition that it is out of sight at all future play dates.
While seemingly absurd the media hype around, rubber ducky gate actually sums up the guilt phenomenon of raising children. Parenting is an endless process of decision making about things which directly affect the future success or failure of our children. As if our own musings and late night Googling is not sufficient we are subjected to the onslaught of everyone else’s opinions from our own parents, our in-laws, teachers, other parents and random strangers. Whether its to make ourselves feel better or just because misery likes company, we share our own parental neurosis with others and marvel at the mass hysteria that ensues. When it comes to parenting, a problem shared is definitely not a problem solved.
In this issue we look at some of the most common parental guilt inducing topics from the first 1,000 days. My own unqualified interpretation of guilt is that it stems from feeling insecure about a decision. Belief that you have made the right decision for your child is the easiest way to combat it I hope that you find these articles helpful.
Enjoy
Lucianne Lewis
SPECIAL DELIVERY EDITOR
& PARENT BLOGGER