5 common parenting mistakes made by working mothers

After giving birth to a baby and taking maternity leave, many new mothers will return to the workplace. Busy between work and family, many working mothers find it difficult to switch smoothly between multiple roles and are prone to the following misunderstandings in parenting. I would like to remind you here.

Misconception 1: Don’t sleep with your baby because you’re afraid of affecting your work

A psychological experiment found that newborn rhesus monkeys will only look for the "wire monkey mother" with a bottle of milk when they are extremely hungry. At other times, they are willing to snuggle up to the "wool monkey mother" who has no milk but is soft and warm. This shows that the skin-to-skin relationship between mother and child is extremely important. In order to ensure that they have enough energy to work, some working mothers leave the responsibility of putting their babies to sleep to their parents or nannies. Little do they know that doing so will greatly reduce the already limited physical contact between mother and child, affecting the baby's psychological development.

The correct approach: Soothe your baby to sleep and regulate his/her sleep pattern. It is best for working mothers to put their babies to sleep by themselves at night. If this is not possible, they must make sure to get home before the baby falls asleep, so that he can fall asleep with caressing and gentle whispers. At the same time, you can also use some "rituals" to make your baby's sleep time more regular and reduce the number of times you get up at night, such as using fixed signals such as feeding, massaging, playing music, etc. to tell your baby that it is time to go to bed.

Misconception 2: Bringing work and emotions home

In order to make up for the delayed work progress during pregnancy and childbirth, some mothers bring work home or bring negative emotions from work home. This will weaken the mother's attentive companionship of the child. You must know that the baby has a sensitive heart. If you accompany you wholeheartedly, he will respond with a happy laugh. Otherwise, the child will protest by crying.

Correct approach: Clear work roles when leaving get off work. What I worry about most is that mothers talk about parenting during working hours, which affects their work, and then work overtime after get off work. It is best to restrain your "mother" role during work hours, and clear your bag and mind of work-related items when you get off work. A mother who was the editor-in-chief of a magazine required her subordinates to improve their work efficiency after returning to work. All manuscripts had to be handed in to her two hours before the end of get off work, and she would no longer revise them after get off work. As a result, she was able to take care of her children well and the overall efficiency of the team was also improved.

Misunderstanding 3: Use a lot of toys to make up for the baby

Many working mothers usually don’t have time to spend with their children, so they make up for it with toys, such as using iPAD as an electronic babysitter. In fact, when babies are young (especially under one year old), they are much more interested in things in real life than toys. What they need more is not toys, but people who can take them to explore the world. Therefore, no matter how many toys a baby has, he will still be clingy, especially to his mother whom he cannot see during the day.

Correct approach: Try to play with your baby and avoid electronic products. Mothers should play games with their babies and play with toys with them as much as possible. Playing with electronic products too much can not only easily damage the baby's eyesight, but also may affect the child's concentration and weaken the ability to communicate with others, so try to keep children out of contact.

Myth 4: Keeping children at home

Outdoor activities are the base for children to learn interpersonal relationships. The elderly and the nanny are worried about the child's safety and dare not take the child out to run and jump around. If mothers do not take their babies to outdoor activities after get off work, their physical and mental development will be affected.

The right way to do it: Children also need to take a "walk" in the morning and evening. If your own parents are taking care of your children, encourage them to take your children out for a walk so that they can get to know the surrounding environment and people. If you get off work early, take your children out for a walk. It is best to take your children to a park a little further away on weekends to broaden their horizons.

Misconception 5: Disregarding parenting knowledge

Many working mothers study parenting knowledge hard during pregnancy and childbirth, but after returning to work, they are not so concerned about parenting knowledge. The result is that the child is "difficult to raise", is affected physically and mentally, and the mother feels extremely tired and confused. In fact, every stage of a child's life is unique. Behind many behaviors that parents seem to not understand are the needs of their physical and mental development. For example, repeatedly throwing things down from a high place, persistently putting things into containers, and hiding things back and forth. These "quirks" are all necessary stages in a child's growth and development.

The right approach: Actively learn parenting knowledge. Being a parent is the most difficult job in the world, so working mothers need to continue their studies from time to time. For example, they can subscribe to scientific parenting journals or join high-quality parenting discussion groups and other organizations.