Preparing My Heart for Motherhood
Looking Beyond the Pink and Blue I’ve always imagined being a great mom as part of my future. Being around my nieces and nephews has given me some early insight into the world of parenting, and lately, I’ve been thinking a lot more seriously about it because of a class I’m taking. We’re studying The 10 Basic Principles of Good Parenting by Laurence Steinberg, and this week we explored how gender plays a role in how parents raise their kids. It really made me step back and ask myself, when the time comes, how will I raise my children to feel seen, understood, and supported? In class, I read a story from a BYU–Idaho professor about her neighbor who had very traditional gender expectations when it came to parenting. The neighbor was kind and well-meaning, but her approach to raising her kids really stood out to me. Her daughter was expected to do most of the housework, follow very strict dating rules, and basically put her future career goals aside in favor of getting married and be...