Are you an under valued parent? Or at least do you feel that way? Well don’t feel alone in that. All parents at one time or another actually feel undervalued. By the children or the spouse it doesn’t really matter. It is all the same feeling and caused by the same things. Lack of appreciation and lack of response and thanks for what you have done.
I know what it feels like and I normally go through the blues when I think that I am undervalued. It takes a lot to get me out of feeling like I mean nothing to my family. Yet I know that my family loves me and that I do a lot that helps. It helps being reminded by someone other than your self though. I set up a family night where we talk about how we feel and why. That has seemed to help my husband, my two boys and me as well. Although the boys don’t always understand what we say, we try to give them examples that they would understand.
Another thing that parents that feel under valued should do as well is take a time out for themselves. Reward the actions that you have taken to make sure that you don’t forget that you are a contributing factor in the family even if you are not recognized right away for what you have done. That way you get that reward that you deserve before you feel even more undervalued and neglected.
One of the most common causes of feeling under valued goes to the stay at home parents. Those stay at home parents don’t earn income and feel that they are under valued because of this. I being a stay at home mom that doesn’t earn a life style with money I feel that I am not doing all that I can to provide for my family. Being that, I stay at home and that I do everything that I can to make sure that things run smoothly around the house I don’t normally get a “good job” or “it looks great” from my husband or my children.
I always forget that when I do things around the house that I have so much that I have done and that I need to make sure that I reward myself for what I have to help my family function and be happy. That is what I do and how I manage to not always feel like an under valued parent. I hope that other parents that feel this way tries a few of the suggestions and feels better.
