Today’s resources aim to offer reassurance instead of adding to the weight parents already feel.
A majority of mothers with kids at home today—69 percent in a new survey from Barna Group—say they struggle to “feel like they are enough” as a mother. Only 19 percent said that they feel they are “able to contribute meaningfully to the world.”
What does it mean to be “enough,” and where do moms look as they try to figure it out?
Overwhelmed young moms see social media feeds filled with practical tips, assurance, and, at times, unrealistic expectations. Christian influencers suggest moms should be doing everything from building seasonal sensory bins to catechizing their kids at snack times.
“Moms are discouraged,” said Sissy Goff, cohost of the podcast Raising Boys and Girls and author of The Worry-Free Parent. “They feel defeated or like failures now more than ever in my 30 years of counseling.”
With those changes in attitudes, the tone of popular Christian parenting literature and advice has also changed over the past few decades. It’s less combative than what parents found in bestsellers like James Dobson’s Dare to Discipline (1970) or The Strong-Willed Child (1978).
Instead of emphasizing the importance of requiring good behavior and first-time obedience, newer resources encourage parents to look inward and consider how their beliefs, perceptions, and anxieties affect their ability to train up children in the way they should go.
And yet, Goff observed, this shift away from behaviorism to a gentler approach to Christian parenting guidance hasn’t done much to lessen the guilt and pressure many mothers feel. Books and podcasts can’t compete with the ever-presence and magnetism of social media. And on social media, moms find content …
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