Losing Your "Color" As a Parent

Did you know that flamingos can lose their pink color when they are in the thick of raising their babies? It’s true!

The process of breeding and providing nourishment for their babies can actually drain both the mom and dad flamingos of their usual vibrant pink colors (which they get from eating so much shrimp), until their plumage starts to look pale pink or even white. Eventually, as their babies grow up and become more independent, the parents will get their color back.

Parenting, especially while your children are still really young, can feel just as draining as those flamingos. Raising little ones can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life, but let’s not diminish the hard parts. A lot of early parenting resources will focus on the physical demands of raising babies, including post-partum complications around childbirth, breastfeeding or pumping, and sleep deprivation during those early months. But we often forget to talk about how we as parents might start to “lose our color” during the months or even years after birth. Parenting can feel really lonely and isolating during this time…not only because we don’t have as much time to socialize with our peers, but also because we undergo a process of essentially losing parts of ourselves during that time as well.

The awesome news it that eventually, your color will come back. It might not be the exact “shade of pink” as before, but as your children get older and become more independent, you will be able to set aside more resources for your own self care as well as taking care of them too.

And in the meantime, talking to a therapist can help you find your way back to that vibrant, colorful self you may have lost along the way. If you’re feeling like that flamingo who’s lost a bit of their pink color, contact us to get started on your journey back to self-discovery. We totally get it, and we’re happy to help.