05/12/2023
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Did you know that the term "parenting" didn't even appear in the U.S and elsewhere until 1958? And according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary only became commonly used in the 1970s.
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Alison Gopnik, professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley, says that "People sometimes use “parenting” just to describe what parents actually do, but more often, especially now, “parenting” means something that parents should do. “To parent” is a goal-directed verb; it describes a job, a kind of work. The goal is to somehow turn your child into a better or happier or more successful adult—better than they would be otherwise, or (though we whisper this) better than the children next door. The right kind of “parenting” will produce the right kind of child, who in turn will become the right kind of adult.
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The idea that parents can learn special techniques that will make their children turn out better is ubiquitous in middle-class America—so ubiquitous that it might seem obvious. But this prescriptive picture is fundamentally misguided. It’s the wrong way to understand how parents and children actually think and act, and it’s equally wrong as a vision of how they should think and act."
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Dr. Gordon Neufeld describes parenthood as a state of being. which I love and resonate with deeply. Attachment gives us that state of "being". In secure attachment, children can rest in our unconditional love. Our children's attachment to us is what gives us our true power to parent.
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Parenthood isn't about a set of strategies or a checklist of to-do's. It’s about relationship and connection.
So lean in, invest in connection and the magic will follow.