Hey, it's Jen, and this is a happy bit. Two happy bits back, so Happy Bit 156. And when I say that,

it means the happy bit that came out after episode 156, FYI. Another FYI is you can type in genrady.com

slash episode number to get to an episode. But you can also type in genready.com slash happy

156 to get to that week's happy bit. Who knew? Anyway, inquiring your minds want to know, right?

Today I'm talking about good mom syndrome. Oh boy, is this loaded. I've had this conversation so many times. And recently with

my women in the heal your heart group, we were talking about shame. In our society, there is a

blueprint presented of how we should be living our lives. And many of us still buy into it and we feel shame or not good

enough, kind of some elements of something related to good mom syndrome when we don't follow

this blueprint. And what is the blueprint? Well, you should graduate from high school,

go to college, get a degree, maybe a master's, and then start to look for

someone to marry, have some kids. Maybe you can have a dog first, but only for a year,

then have some kids, and your kids need to be successful, and they need to go to good college,

and so on. So when my friends is in her 30s, not married, no kids,

and she feels a sense of shame about that as if people are judging her. Well, the same thing

happens to us in regards to parenting. There are ideals of mothering that are presented to us from all kinds of places.

What to expect when you're expecting.

The happiest baby on the block.

Parenting magazine.

All the places.

Plus, we see how our own parents did it, how siblings do it, how aunts and uncles do it,

how our friends do it. And there

becomes this culture of good mothering. So if you don't breastfeed, for example, you might feel a

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