Imagine if you were taught from an early age that “birth is a medical event, preceded by an illness called pregnancy and ends with an emergency called labour.” {Carla Hartley}
How would that impact on your anticipation of birth (massive fear, looking for what can go wrong) and the actual experience? (lack of trust in our bodies, looking to experts and technology for reassurance and salvation)
I believe this is what we are facing. Like a self fulfilling prophecy, we get what we expect. Reflected in this attitude is the fact that the vast majority of births in the developed world are highly medicalised. Joy is our birthright and nature’s design, yet one in three mothers are left traumatised, some experiencing postnatal depression and post traumatic stress.
Many teenage girls are receiving this message subconsciously and taking it on board. If these ideas are not questioned, they will inevitably be carried into motherhood.
The truth is, birth left to take its natural course without interference, can be a beautiful, transforming experience that can make the new mother feel on top of the world. Unhindered by drugs, mother and baby are on a natural high together, bonded in a beautiful cocktail of happy birth hormones. This marks the beginning of a beautiful love story and has many positive flow on effects. Combined with a massive sense of achievement, we have the perfect ingredients to move into motherhood with strength and confidence.
How do we build a new generation of strong empowered women? We need to start when beliefs around our bodies, motherhood and birth are being formed.
Our own example is the most powerful way to give our daughters confidence in the beauty and normality of birth. As mothers, we need to tell the truth about birth – nothing to be feared but something to be embraced in the moment and a natural part of life. That our bodies are amazing and women are incredibly strong
Raising teens with foundations of love, self esteem, positive body image, sets the stage for strong women who stand firm in what they believe, like a tree with roots so deep in the ground that nobody can shake them. A leaf in the wind is more likely to get blown about and swayed by strong forces. (ie authority figures)
Like butterflies, teenage girls are in the process of blossoming into a life of full potential and as parents, it’s up to us to provide them with the tools and support so they can discover their own power and ultimately, their own sense of self worth and confidence.
Do you agree and what will it take to “Raise a New Generation of Powerful Women?”
As published in Pathways to Family Wellness Magazine ~ by Katrina Zaslavsky
Katrina Zaslavsky is the passionate author of A Modern Woman’s Guide to a Natural Empowering Birth, a complete mind body preparation guide for every woman in bloom. Now available worldwide as a gorgeous embossed paperback in our Birth Goddess store here, in major bookstores Australia-wide, direct in the UK & Europe via Gazelle Books and rated 5 stars as a kindle e-book on Amazon.
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