Being a parent is the hardest job anyone will ever have, mostly because you're attempting to raise a human while simultaneously continuing to work on yourself, as a human, too. Parenthood doesn't magically make your baggage disappear, and even on your best days (when you're completely aware and conscious and trying your best to keep it all together), you can still end up unintentionally passing your issues onto your kids. I mean, basically children are born absolutely perfect and it's our job to try and not screw them up in our own, very specific way.
The rules of parenthood aren't written in black and white. Instead, the rules are an endless list written in shades of gray, covering a myriad of circumstantial situations that every parent will end up handling differently; given their past and their baggage and the problems they are working through or have worked through, too. While there areways to make parenthood easier, it doesn't just magically become easy on any random day, and stay easy for the rest of your motherhood journey. Instead, it's a constant effort and, because we're humans, we will slip up and mess up and, you know, fail. We just need to remember that our children will mimic our behavior, both the good and the bad.
No, I'm not saying that one slip up will ruin your kid for the rest of their days, but what I am saying that there are ways that you can be passing your issues onto your kid; ways that you could avoid, if just taking a few extra steps to think; ways that, honestly, you can try to work on not only for your benefit, but for your kids' benefits too. I know for me, personally, how I talk about my body and how I talk about other people and how I talk about myself, as a woman, have all changed, in an attempt to not pass down my issues and my preconceived notions, onto my kids. They benefit, I benefit, dare I say the world benefits? Yeah, I'll say it. The world benefits, so I think it's a win-win.
No, you don't have to be perfect and yes, you're a work-in-progress, just like your kid, so it's okay to be, you know, human. With that being said, here are eight ways you're unintentionally passing your issues onto your kids, because you can't fix what you don't know and, well, I'm glad I know this now: