parenting at the edge of change

May 30

My oldest son and I recently had a conversation around yet another loss I didn’t have the words for.

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 a lot.

Your experience in childhood may have been different. You may have had these conversations. But even so, it feels like there is a noticeable weight of loss, big feelings, hard realities, and a lot of “but why’s”.

These losses definitely hit hard for us having just passed the two-year mark of my husband leaving Earthside. But even beyond the personal grief, there is something larger happening that many of us can feel.

This sense that we are parenting during a time where children are growing up inside enormous collective grief, uncertainty, instability, and emotional weight in real time.

And, no, this is not new.
There has always been grief, instability, fear, loss, and uncertainty.

But something about this moment in time feels different.

I rarely had these conversations with my parents.

The Emotional Demands We’re Carrying

Maybe because so many of us are no longer willing to suppress what we feel just to survive it.
Maybe because we are becoming more emotionally aware of what has always been there.

Or maybe because the pace of the world now requires a level of presence, awareness, and emotional literacy that many of us were never taught ourselves.

And no, this is not a blame game.

Previous generations (in the Western world) were simply navigating emotional realities through a very different lens, with much 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 grieving personal and worldwide losses while trying to parent consciously…while also helping our children process things we were never fully taught to process ourselves.

I see this as a sort of 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 in developmentally appropriate ways,
regulating ourselves while helping regulate our children,
processing collective fear publicly and privately,
and somehow still creating safety, stability, and hope.

Don’t get me wrong – I am so relieved and happy that this is moving into the norm. But it does bring with it a different kind of parenting weight.

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

Technology alone has completely changed the experience of childhood.

Our children can access conversations, information, and perspectives that many of us would have been completely separated from growing up. They can step into entirely different virtual realities. They instantly witness fears, tragedies, conflict, and collective emotion from across the globe.

There is no buffer anymore.

The emotional experience of humanity is quite literally at their fingertips.

And so, appropriately enough, they are asking questions many of us never asked out loud. It’s clear they are emotionally aware in ways many of us were not.

So whether you believe in astrology, collective consciousness, nervous system science, spirituality, world events, or none of it at all…you can probably agree that something significant is shifting alongside the long-held systems, narratives, and ideas of safety we’ve held.

And our children feel those shifts just as much as we do.

Maybe because the pace of the world now requires a level of presence, awareness, and emotional literacy that many of us were never taught ourselves.

Our Most Honest Mirrors

The thing about children is that they are our most honest mirrors, especially in times like these. They haven’t yet built the walls of suppression and repression that cloud them from feeling and naming their truth. They lay it all on the table, and make us do the same.

They reflect not only our love, but also the pace, fear, grief, confusion, and disconnection happening around them.

They show us how staying present, connected and curious isn’t just an option – it’s a requirement.

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

Each other.
Curiosity.
Gratitude.
And love.

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

And I realize there is grief in having these conversations at times 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, question, and speak openly about hard realities in ways many generations before us simply could not.

I, for one, am honored to be parenting in this time.

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

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

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 – protecting our children through presence and truth.

Not through perfect answers or certainty.
But through honest and open 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.