Shan and Tam... Sisters Breaking Barriers

"Push mom!" "I can’t, I’m tired!" "You must push as the baby’s heart rate is dropping." In a nutshell this is parenting. Parents push through life, feeling exhausted at times, but we continue to push nonetheless to maintain the hearts of our children. I pushed, I cried, I screamed, I prayed; after fourteen hours King was born. My body was numb, and my thoughts were racing. I felt an overwhelming rush of emotions as I wondered how I would ever be able to do this on my own. I yearned for the validation of one person at that moment, but instead was told,  “You didn’t push King out properly”. This statement crushed me, and I suddenly realized that I was going to be parenting on my own. Women having children outside of wedlock sometimes feel a sense of shame and embarrassment. For me this was the case; I felt low because I had wanted more for myself and my son when he was born. In that moment however, I was determined not to be placed in the category ...

Raising children is not for the faint of heart. Very much like marriage, we do not openly talk about the adversities of parenting. With my three children, ages 18, 12 and 8 years old, with whom I have been blessed, I have experienced some pride filled joyous moments, and notably, there have been some overwhelming lows. To begin, I had no idea that my three children would turn out so differently from each other. You might be thinking, that makes no sense, because the core of being human is that we are all unique. This simple fact eluded me when it came to parenting. My eldest daughter has always been a focussed and calm child who seemed to do many things effortlessly. When I became pregnant with my son, I was not scared. In fact, I was confident and felt that I was prepared. I had created a template with my daughter and I just needed to follow the established modus operandi, or so I thought. My son ran, not walked, at 10 months old. Fast forward two years to pre-school...