As a first time mother of a baby boy, my hopes for this blog are to share my personal experiences of motherhood. I have found that my thoughts and views on how to parent sometimes vary from those of my family, my community and my culture. I sometimes struggle to find a balance and this blog serves as an outlet to organise my thoughts – but I also hope it acts as a source of comfort for someone who may be experiencing similar struggles.
A little about me – I am a 30 year old Malawian of Indian descent. I moved back home after completing my education in the US where I graduated with a Masters of Public Health in 2014. I got married a year later in 2015 and worked in various different sectors in Malawi. I found out I was pregnant in March 2018 and life hasn’t been the same since. My pregnancy was a great one, physically, but challenging emotionally – I briefly discussed this in a guest post for a friend’s blog (you should follow her – she’s brilliant). The experience of expressing my thoughts through that post was therapeutic and encouraged me to continue writing. I found a sense of strength in my vulnerability when I posted my thoughts for everyone to read. The process allowed me to articulate my thoughts in a more structured way that hopefully made it more understandable to others around me and relatable to other mamas.
Parenting is mostly trial and error – we are constantly trying to figure out what works and doesn’t work for our babies. Just when we think we have it figured out, our babies change. I tried to prepare myself by reading everything I could, only to find that most of it didn’t apply to my baby. I focused way too much on what I believed my baby should be doing according to the internet, the books and all the advice we were getting instead of letting my baby guide me.
I love being a mother, I can’t remember my life without my son. I believe there is no right or wrong way to parent and some either agree or disagree with my opinions – and thats ok! My intentions are not to offend anyone, only to process my own thoughts, which hopefully can be helpful to others. I am excited to have you join me in this journey and look forward to hearing from all of you. I would appreciate if all comments were constructive as I would like to keep this a very positive and non-judgemental space.
Not Figured Out! 