On their most recent episode of Jen and Lottie Do Parenting, Jennifer Zamparelli and Lottie Ryan spoke about the pressures and challenges that new parents face.
Jennifer has two children – a son named Enzo and a daughter named Florence while Lottie has one son named Wolf.
And they’re not afraid to chat about the nitty, gritty of being a parent.
View this post on Instagram
In their most recent episode, they delve into some scenarios as well as some struggles they have faced while raising their children.
Jennifer speaks about a time her daughter came into the house and explained that a child outside had called her “c**t”, after hearing this her husband decided to go over to the parents’ house and speak to them.
While this is a completely natural situation to happen, as a new parent it can be daunting to confront the parents of a child similar in age to your own.
She then explains that she doesn’t want to be known as the mean family on the road: “Now the child is terrified of Lau and It just brought me back to my childhood and I thought my god is that kid gonna have payback with us, are we gonna be the house that’s always gonna be knick-knacked and get egged.
“You know when you were younger, you’d always go to the house with that little bit more danger.”
View this post on Instagram
They also speak about a topic which may not resonate with everyone but is certainly a worry which every parent can somehow relate to.
Both Jen and Lottie are married to Italian men, they have the privilege of raising their children as bi-lingual. While they both agree that this is a beautiful gift to be able to provide their children with they have some worries.
“I’m nervous because I can’t speak Italian and I think they’re going to have this like private b***h about me when he is older,” Lottie explains.
While comforting Lottie, Jen goes on to show a more positive side: “It’s such a gift to give to your child. It’s a gift, don’t see any negative in it because it’s such a gorgeous thing to be able to do for your kid”.
Jealousy is an experience everyone has no matter how hard they try not to, both Jen and Lottie provide comfort to each other in the fact that while their significant other may have this new bond with their child, it is a beautiful gift to be able to give.
In a way, every parent may experience this through various things, for example, if a husband and a son are extremely into football and go to matches together or perhaps a mother and daughter are both artists and can attend classes together.
They also speak about the pressures they experience from other people around them since having their children.
View this post on Instagram
“People saying things like ‘when you going to get into a house?’.
Lottie goes on to explain that she lives in a two-bedroom apartment which she worked very hard for and people seem to think that now that she has a child she automatically needs a house.
A lot of Irish people feel that once you start a family and once you have a child you need to move into a house while in most other countries there are huge skyscraper buildings and living in an apartment is completely socially acceptable.
“So, I feel a little bit of pressure because I see Fabio [Her husband] feeling pressure and him going Jesus are we denying him a garden to play in.”
As new parents, it can be hard to navigate through all these trials and challenges surrounding the opinion of others, new jealousy as well as dealing with situations from a new perspective.
Jen and Lottie do a good job of hashing out these conversations in their podcast and is definitely worth a listen if you are a new parent or just want to see if some people feel the same as you might.
