A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

I was talking with a friend who’s a new grandmother. She’s watching her son become a father. He and his wife (in just two weeks time) know more about that baby than any other adult—even adults with decades of parenting experience. You know what I mean!

We were chuckling over how her son is already giving detailed instructions for how to comfort the baby, what to do and not do about diapers and burping. He worried about leaving his daughter alone with grandparents even for an hour.

Zero experience: instant expert.

When you strike out on your own to become parents, you don’t know how to get where you’re going but you go anyway. It’s astonishing how quickly you’ll assert your emphatic beliefs about this child and her needs. Sure, you scroll through your phone at midnight for ideas about how to get this tiny person to Just. Stop. Crying! But you are in no danger of quitting or giving up. You know you’ll get past this stage of development.

It’s caring that gets you through all of it. You care the most. Staying above water for the sake of your child is top priority. We trust you.

You can homeschool the exact same way—with undeserved confidence, attentiveness to your child’s unique needs, scrolling for ideas when desperate, secure in your belief that you’ll get where you’re going.

You have all of human history on your side. You get to parent! You get to figure it out. You are trustworthy (if you want to be). Lean into it.

Keep paddling!

This post is originally from Instagram and @juliebravewriter is my account there so come follow along for more conversations like this one!