05/11/2026
Before I became a parent, I thought my professional experience would prepare me better for motherhood.
I had worked as a nanny, preschool teacher, ESL teacher, counselor, and parent educator. I understood child development. I knew the strategies. I could explain emotional regulation, behavior, and connection-based parenting all day long.
And then I became a parent.
What I learned very quickly is that parenting is completely different when you’re the one showing up day after day in the messy moments.
When you’re exhausted.
When you’re overstimulated.
When everyone is sick.
When your own nervous system is struggling.
When you don’t have time to pause and thoughtfully respond with your professional “A game.”
My children do not always get the polished, regulated version of me that other people sometimes see professionally.
They get the real me.
The human me.
The still-learning me.
That has humbled me in the best possible way.
Parenting isn’t about perfection.
It’s about repair.
It’s about showing up again and again.
It’s about learning alongside our children instead of pretending we always have it figured out.
One of the biggest lessons parenting has taught me is how important self-regulation and co-regulation really are.
Children borrow our calm before they can create their own. And the truth is, many of us are learning these skills for the very first time alongside our kids.
I’ve had to learn how to slow down.
How to notice when my own nervous system is overwhelmed.
How to pause before reacting.
How to reconnect after hard moments.
And I’ve learned that co-regulation doesn’t mean being perfectly calm all the time.
It means offering safety, connection, and steadiness — even when things feel hard.
It means helping our children feel less alone in their big emotions while also learning how to care for ourselves, too.
It doesn’t mean boundaries disappear.
It doesn’t mean kids run the house.
It just means we stop expecting children — and ourselves — to function like perfectly regulated humans all the time.
And maybe that’s the real work of parenting:
Learning how to stay connected even in the imperfect moments.