I recently heard an interview with an internationally renowned writer and feminist. She was recounting her thoughts at the time when she was a young adult and deciding what she wanted to do with her life. She’d just graduated from a top tier American university and she was part of the nascent Second Wave of feminism and she was riding its crest.

She was young, intelligent, talented and beautiful. It seemed that absolutely anything was possible. Motherhood was only one of the long list of contenders - and she dismissed that out of hand because, as she said, that would have been such a waste of all her education.

Only someone who is not a parent could ever think that.

Parenting - especially high quality parenting - takes every ounce of wisdom available to us. I’ve always said being a parent is like being the manager of incompetent employees, with the lowest status job description (there’s nothing like telling someone at a dinner party that you are a full-time mother to prompt eye-glazing, yawn-inducing, ennui) who is assigned the most difficult and abstract job specifications and expectations, working 24/7, no entitlements, no benefits, no pay.

The more we know of literature, history, the arts and the sciences, the more we are able to contribute to the creation and development of thoughtful, insightful, healthy and balanced children who will ultimately become citizens of the world.

But, more importantly, the more we know about, and understand, psychology, sociology, metaphysics, and spirituality the more able we are to solve the intricate and complex problems that arise in forming loving, peaceful, and emotionally intelligent beings who have self-awareness, compassion for themselves and for others, and who have an emotional and psychological tool kit and skill set that enables them to cope with whatever life brings their way.

Being the best parent we can be takes enormous wisdom and self-awareness (to say nothing of self-love). We cannot delegate, procrastinate (even at 2am) or obfuscate. All we have is ourselves and somehow, someway we have to find within our own depths the almost inhuman levels of patience, humor, endurance and resilience that are the bare minimum of good parenting.

Whilst education is by no means a pre-requisite, it is an amazing head start.

Eileen McBride
Eileen McBride is the author of Love Equals Power 2, a spiritual seeker and teacher. This article was published on May 5, 2012.