New mom anxiety | How to raise kids in a violent world

While you were pregnant, did you go through anxiety? If yes, what was it about? Here is a piece of advice for a new mom from an expecting one! 

I am in my most amazing trimesters of pregnancy. Before I was pregnant, I was an active professional for 10 years. But when I got the news that I am expecting I decided to take a break and enjoy my pregnancy. Little did I know that a lot of time at hand comes with a lot of worries. Just like any other mom, I too worry, I am scared.. ‘New mom fears’.

I worry, some days more than the other, but I worry about the future of our coming generations almost every day. Some people will think that I have too much time at hand and that is why I get to think so much, but my reply shall only be that the devil in my mind is more active than it is in any other empty mind.

Until few days back I was worried about the violent and unsafe place the world is and how is it that most of us are okay in bringing and raising our children in this world. But thank god ISIS has apparently run into some budget issues so there is not a lot to read about the attacks and their expansions plans.

But then, if you are active on Facebook (I mean social media), you soon realize there is always some bad news doing the rounds. Usually worse than good ones!

The news on Pathankot bombarding and the deaths of our brave soldiers disturbed the entire nation. Then the Hyderabad University issue followed by the JNU stir which is ongoing (still)! I am not going to take any political sides, not here at least, but how easily do things turn into a political battle in our country.

Then one day after worrying too much about the fate of my child in this country which is plagued by reservation demands, inflation, corruption, I decided I needed to speak to someone more sensible.

So I called my father and asked, “Dad, when we were young were you ever so worried about what we were going to grow up into and how we would lead our lives, that you couldn’t sleep?” My father laughed and eloquently said – “NO”!

He said we did our best to provide for you and tried to teach you our values and you turned out okay.  My father being a man of few words didn’t stretch the discussion too much. But I just understood that while worrying is part of becoming a parent, we just need to have faith.

“Faith” is the word! The really small child that we are bringing in this world will someday grow up and be able to take his/her own sensible decisions. And while they are growing old, we would also have grown as parents (and pretty much done what is best for our children). And while worrying will never stop, it should just help us become a better parent and not some scared insecure person. So, how to cope with being a new mom?

My advice to all new mothers and parents-to-be (in general) including myself, is that people will tell you, your life is going to change, you will not be able to sleep, schooling will be expensive, your home budget will go haywire etc. etc. etc., but remember if our parents thought so much about all this, we wouldn’t be here. So let’s just be smart. Be anxious! But don’t be scared. You are bringing a new life into the world, give some credit to yourself.

This article is a guest post by Astha Sharma. She has worked for 10 years in an IT firm as a Project Manager and is soon to be a mom!

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