Parenthood is like the opposite of surgery.<\/p>\n
Where surgery can end up with you losing a limb, becoming a parent is like growing a new arm or leg. Something miraculous and amazing, but which comes with decades of responsibility and demands both physical and emotional. And while surgery has thousands of textbooks transcribing the science into illustrations, rules and guidelines, there has never been \u2014nor is it likely there will ever be\u2014 a rulebook for parenthood.<\/p>\n
On second glance, parenthood isn\u2019t like surgery at all.<\/p>\n
Surgery is much easier!<\/p>\n
Anyone who\u2019s entered the whirlwind of parenthood will agree that it\u2019s not something you can do on your own. You need help. Oftentimes, you just need to vent. You need someone who\u2019ll understand when you can no longer bear the sound of screaming, and whom you know will not judge you when you complain that your children are ruining your life. Someone whose advice you can count on, and who will not shy away from telling you when you\u2019ve made a mistake.<\/p>\n
You need another parent.<\/p>\n
Several other parents, if such a thing is feasible.<\/p>\n
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HAVING A SUPPORT SYSTEM AND GOING THROUGH THE MIRACULOUS, ALBEIT TERRIFYING EXPERIENCE OF PARENTHOOD ON YOUR OWN CAN BE LIFE-CHANGING.<\/strong><\/p>\n And that\u2019s where support groups come in.<\/p>\n Well, first off, you need a group. To demonstrate, here are some examples of support groups you can start with your immediate circle:<\/p>\n *There are hundreds of great parenthood books out there. Unfortunately, there isn\u2019t enough TIME for a parent to read. So how about a group of parents pick a book and divide the chapters among themselves so that each gets to read fewer pages over the period of a month. Then by the end of the month, the parents get together and discuss what they\u2019ve read. It\u2019s both a chance to get out of the house and take time for yourself and an opportunity to exchange parenting techniques and strategies.<\/p>\n Secondly, you need to choose a\u00a0platform<\/strong>. THE BEST STRATEGY I\u2019VE FOUND IS TO SHARE A WHATSAPP OR FACEBOOK GROUP BUT ALSO SET REGULAR OFFLINE MEETINGS.<\/strong><\/p>\n How often your group meets depends upon the availability of its members in addition to their needs. A potty-training support group, for example, can meet every week to share progress and offer support in a process that\u2019s already time-limited. But parents who live in Tagamo\u2019 or Sixth of October or Nasr City may choose to meet every two or three weeks, trading stories and expressing joy or frustration over a long-term process filled with ups and downs.<\/p>\n Third is\u00a0setting guidelines<\/strong>\u00a0for the support group.<\/p>\n Any project needs a WRITTEN set of rules to make it easy to organize and to be fair to all members. With a flexible but well-defined set of rules, you\u2019ll always know when you\u2019re straying from your group\u2019s objectives and you\u2019ll have a reference to go back to whenever problems arise.<\/p>\n You can update these guidelines with a vote and use them to explain how the group works to new members.<\/p>\n Ideas for guidelines:<\/strong><\/p>\n Now that you have a framework for your group, it\u2019s time to start\u00a0offering support<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Having a support group means sharing your stories and experiences. It means sharing positive as well as negative feelings and thoughts with honesty and without fear of judgement. It means creating a safe environment in which you know that what\u2019s said will remain within the group and that everyone in the group share the same objectives and have the same goals.<\/p>\n It\u2019s about forging a human bond with people you can depend on to be by your side in hardships and are the first you call to share triumphs.<\/p>\n It\u2019s bringing order to a chaotic experience, about letting go of the need to be in control every single moment of every single day, about finding someone who gets it, even if they don\u2019t always have all the answers.<\/p>\n It\u2019s about sharing the beauty as well as the hardships of motherhood and fatherhood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Parenthood is like the opposite of surgery. Where surgery can end up with you losing a limb, becoming a parent is like growing a new arm or leg. Something miraculous and amazing, but which comes with decades of responsibility and demands both physical and emotional. And while surgery has thousands of textbooks transcribing the science […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-champ"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/champsnursery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/champsnursery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/champsnursery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/champsnursery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/champsnursery.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2441"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/champsnursery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2444,"href":"https:\/\/champsnursery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441\/revisions\/2444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/champsnursery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/champsnursery.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/champsnursery.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/champsnursery.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How to start a support group?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nLook for a group of parents who are going through similar circumstances or facing similar difficulties. The more the members of the support group have in common, the better chance it has at making an impact.<\/p>\n\n
\nA Facebook or WhatsApp group is great in the sense that it\u2019s simple to put together and easy to join and share experiences. But online platforms can\u2019t guarantee that everyone gets to contribute, and can sometimes get too noisy or lose sight of their original purpose.<\/p>\n\n