ParenthoodThe Joys and the

ChallengesAngela Evans

A parent’s job description

•Guardian•Guide•Enormous responsibility

Memories triggered•Continual unconscious reminders

•Your childhood impacts on your parenting

The mother inside•Who mothers the mother?

•Lack of internal resources –Anxiety–Isolation–Powerlessness

Repeating patterns•Anniversaries and festive occasions are always worth watching

Margot Waddell•Feelings

–Caring, devoted, protective, loving

•Mature & sensitive responsiveness

•Mature mother

•Feelings–Infantile, hostile, dependent

•Uncertainty, ambivalence

•Powerless infant

The ‘Perfect’ Parent

Weaning and Separation

Weaning and Separation

Biddy Youell“They are subject to extreme mood

swings and are very difficult to please…”

Biddy Youell

•A period of growth in children shifts parents into the next phase of their lives

•A period of growth in children shifts parents into the next phase of their lives

Flying the nest•Letting go of the little being you have loved and nurtured

References•Waddell M (1999) Inside Lives, Chapter 8, Tavistock Clinic Series, Duckworth

•Winnicott D W (1951), Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenonema

•Youell B (2006) The Learning Relationship, Adolescence, Tavistock Clinic Series, Karnac.

Contact•Website:

–http://familyvillage.wordpress.com

•Email:–angelaevans@digicord.co.uk

•Thank you. All profits go to Diabetes UK