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Mum's Viral Post Sums Up Why Parenting Used To Be Easier

'Is that what this busy life is making my kids feel?'
Constance Hall

An Australian mom’s viral Facebook post is highlighting the immense pressure parents face today.

On Wednesday, blogger Constance Hall posted a photo of herself having fun with one of her children. In the caption, she shared a powerful message about the cost of trying to keep up with the demands of society.

“What happens when we put too much pressure on mothers?” she asked.

Hall recalled that after becoming a mother, she once asked her father how her grandmother managed to raise 11 children. “My dad responded that she wasn’t given half the pressures I was,” she wrote.

“She didn’t have to go to the bank, the supermarket everyday, she wasn’t expected to look a million bucks straight after birth and she never put pressure on her kids to have reached all of their milestones by the age of 3 weeks, have the house clean and own a thermomix,” she added. “She just hung out with her kids and enjoyed them.”

As a result of this pressure to keep up with the many demands of modern parenting, Hall believes she and other parents aren’t able to be truly present for their children. Instead, she said, they have to fixate on reaching perfection.

“To go to the gym, answer that email, pay that bill, cook that organic kale, blend it, get it into a patty so no one knows it’s kale, get to the doctors....” she wrote. “The washing! Petrol in the car.... colour your goddam grays! Make the kids lunches ‘cause if you order them again you will be JUDGED!”

Ultimately, Hall said that she wants to reject the pressure to be perfect.

“Today I woke up with a desire to take a deep breath and let it all go, I don’t really care about the new blinds I had ordered or making the house decent so that my mates don’t think I’ve lost the plot,” she concluded. “But I really care about my time with my kids and how they feel about themselves. And I’m not going to let outside pressures and ‘Super mum’ ideals take that away from me.”

Hall’s post received over 64,000 likes, and the comments section quickly filled with positive responses and similar thoughts from fellow parents.

“Nobody’s ever going to say ‘ I wish I’d spent more time cleaning & looking at my phone instead of playing with my kids,’” wrote one mom.

“Never feel guilty about finding joy instead of perfection,” added another.

Here’s to embracing the imperfect reality of raising kids!

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