One of the aspects that have been heavily affected by the pandemic was traveling. Now that the world is slowly going back to its pre-pandemic ways, families are choosing child-friendly destinations once again. For us parents, this is a dream come true–to finally be able to escape the stressors of big city life by visiting beautiful places we’ve only enjoyed from our screens since 2020. For children, it could be another story. Transitions (physical movements from one place to another), no matter how big or small, will impact a child greatly. Speaking to Mommies Arie, Abby, and Sarah, they were able to share their insights on how they were able to travel with their little ones on their first ever airplane ride.
“Congratulations, first-time mom! Enjoy every minute!”
“Just take a look at your sweet baby and you’ll forget how tired you are.”
“You’ll be just fine – just sleep when baby sleeps!”
As I was reading these well-meaning posts of encouragement from fellow parents, it was 5 in the morning. I’d had a total of 30 minutes of sleep since 8 pm the night before, and I hadn’t washed my hair in four days. My CS wound was itching and I was sweating profusely despite the air conditioning being on full blast.
My boobs were painfully engorged, and I still couldn’t figure out how to properly latch my days-old baby despite all the classes I took and all the lessons I got from the NICU nurse. Because of this, my son kept waking every half-hour to hour wanting to feed, and I mostly stayed in the rocking chair because he wanted to be held all the time.
Postpartum in the raw. I had no idea what I was in for in the fourth trimester!
Reading those messages in that state, I’d never felt lonelier. No doubt these people wanted to encourage me – but I ended up feeling worse, which then made me feel guilty.
At the peak of postpartum blues, all I could honestly feel was resentment – and shame for feeling resentful. I fantasized about my pre-baby life and cried for weeks, knowing I would never get those days back.
Then I would feel guilty and tell myself I was being ungrateful. Who was I to complain and dislike this discomfort, when so many women long to be mothers? I called myself a bad mom for feeling nothing but exhausted and alone – yes, even after looking at my baby’s beautiful face.
As I look back at that season, I wish I could give that exhausted, sleep-deprived version of myself a long, tight hug. I’m certainly no expert, as I’ve only just begun to navigate another chapter of mothering – toddlerhood – and it has its own joys and challenges.
That said, they say that hindsight is a gift, and it really is true. Here are three things I learned during the newborn season that I continue to remind myself of to this day.
Here comes the season with the highest volume of parties, gatherings, and family reunions. Ideally, these gatherings should bring relatives closer together, celebrating each other with lots of fun and games, but unfortunately for some, reunions become stressful because of the tactless comments from family members. What can a parent do to help their children, especially teenagers, when this happens? Read on.
My fondest memories as a child happened outdoors. I remember my parents bringing me and my siblings to beach trips, nature walks, and city tours. We experienced traveling to different countries as a family and got to explore how cold snow is and how hot desert heat is. But apart from those memories being my fondest, I think it’s also during those trips when I learned most about life. Now that I’m already a mom, I try my best to give my daughter the same opportunity to explore and to learn outside the four walls of our home.
Thanks to Instagram, I stumbled upon Forest school. I was immediately drawn to the program when I read that it’s play-based and learner-led. It encourages parents to take a step back so that the kids can explore nature on their own and discover how capable they really are. This, for me, sealed the deal. After years of being stuck inside the house because of the pandemic, a nature walk with my husband and my 1-year-old sure sounded like a great idea! Read about our experience here.
Continue reading “How to Prepare Little Ones for Their First Ever Airplane Ride”
