Parents in today’s digital age face a wealth of parenting advice. The internet and social media have made sharing and accessing information easier, which can help solve problems and answer questions. However, if well-meaning parents aren’t careful, unexamined information can accumulate and become overwhelming. It can also lead to guilt and feelings of inadequacy.
If you are exposed to parenting experts on social media and out in the world, have other parent friends, or are exposed to your own parents and family members, TV or billboard advertising, you are receiving messages about what a good parent is. You may consciously or unconsciously question whether and how you measure up to this invisible standard.
In my therapy work with parents, I suggest that instead of taking each suggestion as another task to add to your already too-long to-do list, or another reason to criticize yourself or judge your parenting, take a conscious moment to take a deep breath, acknowlege that no one is perfect, we all can only do the best we can, and that’s good enough. Additionally, to counteract our instinctual negativity bias and retrain the brain to look for what feels good, intentionally notice and name three things you’re doing well, things you’re proud of in your parenting.