I get to meet beautiful families in my clinic…..

You see, mothers have a tendency to be very self critical.

They are always thinking of things they could have done better, of ways they could have avoided situations…..

“If only I’d given her a dummy instead.”

“I should have breastfed longer.”

“I wish I had done things differently.”

And my heart goes out to them…..

Because as a mother, I am no different.

In fact, I am completely unforgiving of myself, particularly when it comes to my kids, their health and “things I should have done better.”

When I talk to my friends, my colleagues, my patients, other parents, it really is a common theme.

But imagine if we gave ourselves a break sometimes…..

Imagine if we looked at ourselves truthfully…..

Not through the critical, emotion-tinted sunglasses that we wear as guardians of our children’s health and wellbeing……

A situation came up recently regarding the health of one of my own kids and I have been so upset about it…..

So mad at myself……..

So riddled with guilt……

BUT…..I have come to a decision.

Now I am not going to lie to you, this has been a really difficult pill to swallow…..

But I have chosen to forgiven myself……

Because I have DONE MY BEST……

If I am honest….

If I look deeply inside……

I really have.

As mothers, we just CAN’T KEEP carrying around all this guilt all the time….

Its not healthy.

It draws the sparkle from our eyes….

It lets unimportant “stuff” occupy the corners of our mind….

And worst of all?

It takes away our JOY.

Listen, we are ALL doing our best…..

But we are not a superheroes.

We cannot perform magic.

We are their Mothers and that is enough.

So please don’t be so hard on yourself, Mum……

Because I see you…..

And I see that you are doing your absolute best…..xx