For now, let's save the topic of adolescents for a bit later, since what really makes teenagers lovable is the fact that you already know and love them. But seriously, the birth of a baby is the beginning of a new definition of family and with it comes predictable stress. The normal stress of becoming parents can become distress when parents are unaware of the key adjustments inherent in this phenomenal transition. The addition of a new member who is entirely dependent on its parents to orchestrate its needs presents us with profound change and adjustments in family roles, expectations and resources. The first year of life is a significant one in family adjustment and deserves special attention.
Maturation is necessary as parents learn and develop a new balance in their relationship.
How the couple or single parent adjusts to the stresses of new parenthood can determine the family's foundation for the years ahead. A new balance in meeting one's own and our partner's needs has to be achieved. With the birth of a new baby comes the birth of a new identity of motherhood. It is the psychological task of pregnancy to begin formulating a sense of what it means to be a mother. It is necessary for the new mother to sort through her childhood experience of her own mother, incorporating the things she finds to be positive and changing in herself the ways she disagrees with her mother's parenting.