Parenthood

 Dear Diary…

If being a parent had a definition, it wouldn’t just be about giving birth or sharing DNA. A parent is someone who shows up. Someone who tries, even when they don’t have all the answers. Someone who keeps choosing you, even when life makes it hard.

We grow up thinking our parents know everything, that they have life figured out. But the truth? They’re just people. People with their own childhood wounds, their own struggles, their own fears. And then, one day, they’re handed a newborn and expected to be perfect. No manual, no warning, just them, figuring it out as they go.

Before they were Mum and Dad, they were just two people trying to balance love, life, and themselves. A woman learning how to be strong but soft, nurturing but independent. A man trying to unlearn the world’s ideas about masculinity while figuring out how to show up emotionally. Then suddenly, they have a tiny human looking up at them, expecting them to just know how to be parents. And then another comes. And another. Each with different personalities, different needs, different ways of loving.

So they do their best. They stumble, they mess up, they say the wrong things. Some days, they get it completely wrong. Some days, they don’t try at all because they’re exhausted. But somehow, they wake up and try again.

Not every parent gets it right. Some leave. Some hurt us in ways we may never fully recover from. But for those who stayed, who kept trying, who loved us the best way they knew how, even if it wasn’t perfect, they deserve a little grace too. Because the truth is, they were never just parents. They were human first. And just like us, they’re still learning.

Maybe we won’t fully understand them. Maybe we won’t always agree. But maybe, if we see them not just as Mum or Dad, but as flawed, growing, learning people, we’ll find a little more space in our hearts to forgive, to appreciate, and to say, I see you, and I know you’re trying.

With love

Hoodie Girl♥️♥️