Is it okay for parents to feel like their children don't love them? Or, as parents are we suppose to automatically believe that our children love us just because we are the parent? Is it okay for parents to feel or even say that they are hurt for something that their child(ren) have accused them of?
As I continue to travel my journey of a foster parent, I sometimes feel as if I am not appreciated nor loved by the children I am caring for. Your first impulse is that these children should show the greatest positive emotions towards you because you are providing something for them and to them that they necessary did not get with their biological parent. But then reality sits in and you remind yourself, you are not their parent. You are just another person that they will meet in their lifetime that may or may not make an impact in their lives. So then is it ok to have those feelings of not feeling unloved by them?
Do parents, biologically or not, get the chance to express the emotions that we go through as parents? I mean when our children are mad at us because they could not have their way, do we have the opportunity or right to have an emotion of discomfort or unwanted? Or do we as parents have to just continue to live and be parents? How do we as parents get to express the emotions that can dampen our spirits and ask for reassures from our children? Is it even fair to ask children for reassures?
Let's talk about it?