Becoming a Mom VS Becoming a Dad

You might have heard the quote from the movie/book Juno: “A woman becomes a mother when she gets pregnant, a man becomes a father when he sees his baby.” And that sentiment seems to be reflected in a lot of the parents I work with. So, let’s just be completely honest here. When a woman becomes a mother- typically it’s an immediate shift into motherhood and we adopt that identity pretty early on. (Although I understand that not everyone experiences motherhood the same way- this is generally.) We understand the cues for hunger. We can hear the difference between a poopy diaper cry and a needs a nap cry. We can make a bottle with eyes half closed, sleep deprived, and groping around in the dark without needing step-by-step instructions. But for some reason…stepping into fatherhood seems to be a much more…extended transition. I’ve heard from plenty of couples where the mother explains how frusterated she’s become since she basically has to Kindergarten walk her partner through things like changing a toddlers pull up in the car. Again, in general, it just feels like mothers jump in the pool of parenting head first but fathers kind of poke their pinky toe into the water before eventually wading it and joining mom in the deep end. So, why is there such a stark difference between becoming a mother vs becoming a father? In this episode of the Mudroom we’re going to chat about being a dad vs being a mom and how the way we ease ourselves into these roles can impact our children. I’m also going to break down how we can help father’s take more ownership of the caretaking role in parenting (because they are absolutely capable and competent enough to do that!). I’m excited for this conversation! To be honest, it is mostly the mothers who join the parenting membership ParentAbility or are there for MudRoom conversations but it’s always exciting to see fathers participate and I want to keep encouraging that involvement. Grab the Scripts to Manage the Top 10 Crazy-Making Behaviours: prnt.link/scripts Watch the video recording here: Join the Parenting Posse: prnt.link/group the Mudroom is recorded live every Wednesday at 1:30pm ET/ 12:30pm CT/ 10:30am PT on Facebook: facebook.com/arfamilyservices