I never really expected to be a young mom. Sure, I loved babysitting growing up and I always had looked forward to being a mother, but I just didn’t think it all would happen so soon. But after I met my husband, we fell in love madly and quickly, and the pieces just came together. We were relocated to Arizona for his work shortly after getting married, we owned a beautiful home and both had a solid career plan. Kids made sense for us and we were excited to start building our life together. I was 20 when my first son was born.
As a young mom, in a new state we had a few close friends, but none with kiddos. Without any mom friends around, it was hard at times, not having people to relate to, or to ask questions or share experiences with. But, not having a lot of close friends who were parents also allowed us to be more independent. I stressed less about milestones because I wasn’t comparing my three-month-old to anyone else’s three-month-old. We were able to move forward confidently with the way we parented because we just relied on intuitions and working through each scenario. We found unique solutions for some problems because there wasn’t any other way. There were a lot of laughs, a lot of tears, and a lot of cuddles in those early years.
By the time my second son was born, we had finally found some parents to be friends with, but we had also found the confidence to “bowl in our own lane” as some would say. We parent differently at times, but I’m proud of the way our family has developed and the little traditions and Ivanitskisms that we have.
Young mom or not, I think it’s important to remember that everyone’s parenting journey is different, and everyone’s family is different. And that’s perfectly alright.
