Parenting Isnt Hard Or Easy

Talk to anyone who has had a kid, or someone who is close to someone who has had a kid and you’ll hear this phrase: parenting is hard.

It’s an understandable response. Especially for mothers who are learning how to breastfeed and pump, among so many other new skills. For fathers who are trying to figure out how to nurture in their own way. For support partners. For grandparents who are learning to navigate the dichotomy of unsolicited advice and teaching.

Those things _are _hard. They’re new skills and habits and we have very little time in which to learn them well.

But parenting itself has proved to be more of a spiritual experience. And like any spiritual experience, it is neither easy or hard. It is rich. It is _teeming with possibility. _It’s the cross roads of beauty and curiosity. It’s the center of the universe constantly shifting and reminding all the other parts of the universe that they, too, are the center.

It is creation and construction. Creation can’t be easy, but it also can’t be hard. It is the result of the spark of curiosity. And construction is a step-by-step journey, each step within grasp, but not close enough to grab with confidence.