Moms Council: What Does Being A Parent Mean to You?

What does being a parent mean to you?

From Danica LC:

Responsibility. 

Being a parent means you are no longer just responsible for yourself (and perhaps your partner), but you are now fully responsible for another human being. Not only are you responsible for the obvious needs of food, shelter and other things, but you are also responsible for their happiness and quality of life.  

One thing I learned quickly as a new parent was that I need to be my daughter's voice until she is old enough to speak for herself. "Mama Bear" comes out in me frequently, and even though I am faced with situations that I am not comfortable addressing, I am her voice, and I need to make sure that I do everything I can to protect and keep her happy.

From Melisa Thorne:

I don’t know. I am really not trying to cop-out, but being a mother is who I am. I can say it is an honor, a responsibility and a sacrifice. Yes, it means all that. But like I said, being a mother is who I am. It is something that I will always be. It is me. 

From the time that my kids were born it was impossible for me to detach myself from being a mother. It is in everything I do. I am unable to slice my life into neat chunks and call this “the wife chunk” or that the “job” slice. Sure, I enjoy being a wife and I have a nice job, but all that blends into my role as a mother. 

After becoming a mother, I grew a deeper appreciation of my own mom, who worked as a seamstress when she came into this country. She worked odd jobs when my sisters and I were kids, but for the most part she was home and sewed nights. She was a daily part of my life from the time when I was a baby until the day she passed away.

I mention my own mother because there is one thing that she said that will always stay with me that helps me explain what being a mother means to me. After my mom was diagnosed with cancer, she had surgery. She came out of recovery and my dad, my sisters and I were with her when she woke up. She opened her eyes and looked at us all and then she said to my dad, “I love you, but these girls are my blood. They are part of me.”

I always knew her love for my sisters and I was everlasting and unconditional, but after she said those words to us, to her adult daughters (all mothers themselves), I understood. 

Once I became a mother, it means that being a mother is something that I will always be.  It is me.