I was just chatting with a lovely new mum at the school gates this morning, and it really got me thinking back to my own early days with Sylvie. I’m wondering if anyone else feels there’s so much more pressure on parents now than there was even a decade ago?
It seems like there’s this enormous expectation to have the picture-perfect nursery, all the latest gadgets, and a schedule packed with baby sensory classes from week one. I remember feeling a bit of that pressure myself when my eldest was born. My husband and I felt we had to get everything ‘right’. By the time our third, little Cameron, came along, we’d realised what children truly need is much simpler and can’t be bought in a shop.
We found that focusing on establishing our family’s rhythm and values from the start was what really mattered. Things like consistent bedtime routines, saying please and thank you, and just spending quality time together reading a book or going for a walk. It’s funny how the things that cost the least often mean the most.
My advice, for what it’s worth, is to trust your instincts and try not to get too swept up in all the noise. A loving home and clear, consistent boundaries are worth so much more than any expensive buggy or designer babygrow. What’s one thing you wish you’d known or worried less about when you were a brand new parent?