Let us take a moment and give a big applause to all parents out there. The ones who actually do their best every day to take care of children, who invest energy and time to form the new generation. To those individuals, I bow and salute their spirit!

Let us focus on some of the reasons and compare with another profession, say a pilot!

Few years of study and you know all the theory well. Then you start your traineeship and experience your first rough landings and some bumpy take-offs.  You receive good support and practical tips from other pilots. Finally you get your first real job in an airline and start as a co-pilot. You watch closely every single move and decision of the main pilot. After your graduation, traineeship and working as a co-pilot, the pilot job is yours.

Nonetheless, every destination, airport, weather forecast and aircraft is new to you but after a while, you pretty much learn and the mistakes become less. Mostly, they are small mistakes and do not cost people’s lives. You can say that you enjoy the job because you have mastered it! You also get paid well and will have a nice pension and a fantastic career to be proud of!

What I just described is probably the same for any other profession in this world.

Now, let us compare with Parenthood:

You do not need a university degree or professional exams to become a parent.   Basically, you just become a parent out of the blue.

No matter what you do, you will always remain inexperienced. It is a simple fact. You will get some experience, of course but a child is growing every day so yesterday’s experience is today’s nothing. Every day, a child is evolving emotionally, physically and mentally and a parent wakes up to a new reality.  A parent will always have bumpy landings because every moment is new and a child reaches new behaviors, habits and moods.

Of course books and information are available! A parent has this support to his/her disposal and it really helps! And of course a parent has his/her own parents or friends for support and mentoring!

BUT there is too much information out there and every child is unique! A parent needs to figure out what applies to this unique creature and what not. It is not an airbus A 370 that always has the same engine and control panel. Our child can have such a different profile from any other child in the world because he/she is created in a unique factory (our home, school, neighborhood, family and etc.) As every generation is different, even the most recent publication or own parents’ advice can be outdated and not always applicable.

They say: a parent’s love is enough. A parent intuitively knows what to do. Well, I am sure this is true but nobody prepares you for parenthood. All of us carry our own world and we have modeled our own parents when we were young. So when we become parents, all this comes to the surface and no matter how patient or giving we would like to be 24×7, we feel tired, exhausted, unsatisfied and disappointed with our handling of things.

We then think we are not good enough and carry with us a huge psychological burden and sense of failure.

In the event that a child has two parents (a mum and a dad), these add on to extra challenges; no matter how intuitively we think we do the right thing, we need to discuss with the co-parent and reach the same conclusion on how to raise and react to the kids, reach agreement on every single thing in order to have peace in the house and in the hearts of the little ones. Sometimes the co-parent comes from completely different background or has different thoughts about the whole subject and before we reach agreement (if ever), there are quite some disagreements, fights and disappointments. Time then is running against us.

In the event that a child has a single parent, all the hard work is doubled. Please allow me to express my deepest respect to this category!

A parent needs the best physical and psychological condition of all professions to make it through. Less sleep, constant demands throughout the day, no fixed working hours, overtime, no performance evaluation or superior to discuss but receive constant complaints.

Parenthood has no financial gains; on the contrary, it has heavy financial responsibilities. At the end of the job, chances are you will not receive any appreciation award or a retirement plan. You just complete the job until your last breath and hope it is somehow appreciated. No possibility of quitting, either!

Parents are given a job demanding an extraordinary set of various skills which you might need a whole life time to acquire (not just few years like a pilot!) because of the volatile change of our client, our children.

Conclusion: Parenthood is the toughest job of all! We should give credit to our efforts. No matter what parents do, when there is a genuine intention to do their best, despite little mishaps here and there, all of us do a great job. Even though the styles of every parent are different (and Thank GOD for that!), we are helping our children to acquire great qualities and at the same time some less qualities. But at the end of the day, they will serve them well!  This is how human kind works.

So, please, if you are a parent, be kind to yourself, appreciate yourself, chill and smile! Do know that every day you are doing extremely well and improvement is part of the learning process !

Again, a big bravo to every parent out there!