parenting at the edge of change

May 30

My oldest son and I recently had a conversation.

It was around yet another loss that I didn’t have the words for. It has seemed like a trend lately.

And while we were talking, I noticed myself thinking how I rarely, if ever, had these conversations with my parents – and yet I feel like I have them with my kids far too often.

It’s a lot.

And I know I’m not alone, because I’ve talked to other parents who feel the same way.

Clearly our family is more sensitive to loss – we just passed the two-year mark of my husband leaving Earthside. But even beyond personal grief, there is something larger happening that many of us can feel – regardless of if you are a parent.

This sense that we are parenting during a time where children and the collective are carrying a lot of visible grief, uncertainty, instability, and emotional weight in real time.

And, yes, it is true that none of this is necessarily new.

There has always been loss.
There has always been hardship.
There has always been instability, disruption, grief, fear, uncertainty.

I rarely had these conversations with my parents.

The Emotional Labor We’re Carrying

But maybe part of what feels so disorienting right now is that many of us did not grow up having language for these things.

Not because our parents failed us.
Not because previous generations didn’t care.

There was simply less emotional openness around these experiences.

Less processing.
Less visibility.
Less collective witnessing.
Less understanding of what children were carrying internally.
Less willingness — or ability — to sit inside difficult emotions together.

So now many of us find ourselves in this strange place: grieving while trying to parent consciously…while also helping our children process things we were never fully taught to process ourselves.

I see this as the emotional labor that our generation is carrying.

Not just the physical demands of parenting.
Also the emotional demands of parenting within a collective that is shifting in really big ways.

Because parenting now often looks like:
holding space emotionally,
explaining difficult realities developmentally,
regulating ourselves while helping regulate our children,
processing collective fear publicly and privately,
and somehow still creating safety, stability, and hope.

That is a different kind of parenting weight.

And whether we feel ready for it or not, this kind of emotional presence feels necessary now. Because the world our children are growing up in is very different from the one many of us grew up in.

And in my opinion, I’d say that a lot of children hear conversations we never heard as kids, they ask questions we never asked out loud and they are emotionally aware in ways many of us were not allowed — or encouraged — to be.

And none of this is the fault of any one group or generation. I don’t believe that our parents intentionally protected or shielded us from emotional realities through silence.

I think many conversations simply weren’t being had because they didn’t seem necessary, or the collective consciousness wasn’t quite ready for them.

Whether we feel ready for it or not, this kind of emotional presence feels necessary now.

Gratitude In The Dismay

Either way, the facts are that things are different now – and they’re pretty intense.

Whether you believe in astrology, collective consciousness, nervous system science, spirituality, world events, or none of it at all…we can all agree that there is a shared feeling many people are experiencing right now that something significant is shifting.

Veils are being brought down.

Truths are being shown.

Long-held systems and narratives are being questioned.

People are reevaluating what they trust, believe, and feel safe within.

And as much as we feel this, our children feel it too. Maybe even more, because they haven’t yet built years of walls and honed in on their suppression skills. They are sponges, taking it all in.

So as we become more aware of what feels unstable, unsustainable, disconnected, or unsafe in our world – I keep coming back to gratitude.

I know. That’s weird.

How can you be grateful in this reality.

My truth is that even though these feelings and truths are hard, I’m grateful I can be present with them, and have conversations about them with my children. No matter how difficult it is.

Because I definitely felt many of these things growing up.

I just didn’t talk about them. Not because it wasn’t allowed. But because I didn’t know how.

And I realize there is grief in having these conversations too — because part of me wonders if our children are losing innocence earlier than we did.

Not because we are failing them. But because the world feels faster, heavier, more connected, more exposed, and more emotionally visible than it once was.

And yes, there is sadness in that.

But there is also something deeply profound about raising children in a generation willing to feel, speak, question, process, and be emotionally present in ways many generations before us simply could not.

There is grief in having these conversations — because part of me wonders if our children are losing innocence earlier than we did.

What We Actually Need

I don’t really have answers or a profound conclusion for any of this.

And no, I didn’t spend hours researching whether every thought here is objectively accurate.

This is simply what I’m living.
What I’m noticing.
What I’m feeling.

And through the conversations I’ve had with friends, family, parents, teachers, and community members, I know these questions are not mine alone.

There is validity in what many of us are sensing right now, even if we don’t fully have language for it yet – I see you in that.

So maybe the point isn’t to force a conclusion.

Maybe the point is simply to name what is happening.

To acknowledge that many of us are trying to raise emotionally literate humans while simultaneously learning emotional literacy ourselves.

And maybe this is the shift.

Perhaps previous generations unknowingly protected children through silence.

And perhaps we are now being asked to protect our children through presence and truth.

Not through having perfect answers or pretending certainty.
But through honesty, openness, willingness, repair, and conversation.

And being brave enough to say: “I don’t fully know either…but we can feel through this together.”

And honestly, maybe that presence is exactly what our children need most right now.

Maybe it’s what we need too.

All my love and soul,

Courtney

About the author

Hey there

I’m Courtney

I run Journey Through Bliss, a community I was inspired to create for high-capacity women who are ready to do things differently.

After walking through motherhood, profound personal loss and the unraveling of everything I thought I knew, I discovered that healing doesn’t happen through hustle or push—it happens in the pauses. That sacred, often uncomfortable space where we meet ourselves again.

I created this work because I needed it too. Not another thing to add to the list—but a way of being that integrates into real life.

In JTB, we focus on disrupting lifelong patterns by understanding and re-calibrating the nervous system, and on finding a clear, sustainable path through inner work and healing modalities that actually serve you in everyday life.

At the heart of my work is a simple but radical belief: we were all born with magic. We just forgot. And remembering is always worth it.

I’m here to help women do just that—individually, and together.