I Think I Have 'Imposter Syndrome' But For Parents

My 5-year-old son’s glasses are on their last leg. He has a backup pair – frames in a nice green we bought months ago for just this reason – but surprise! I can’t find them. Rooting around in drawers, I take note of the clutter I find and start berating myself for my lack of organization. By the end of the morning, I find myself sucked into a vortex of parenting shame, convinced I’m not competent enough to be in charge of another person. I can’t handle this, I think to myself. I am not good enough to do this job. There’s a thing called “imposter syndrome,” named by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes to describe people who secretly feel they aren’t intelligent or capable despite evidence in the form of high achievement. “Imposters” fear being found out and exposed for the phonies they secretly feel themselves to be. People with imposter syndrome (often high-achieving women) tend to attribute their successes to luck or their ability to fool others instead of to inherent talent.  The term usually applies to achievement at work. But I think I have it for parenting.  Here I am, pretending to be an adult capable of managing the care and development of another human being. And yet internally, I’m the emotional equivalent of a pair of toddlers stacked up underneath a trench coat. Despite the evidence that I am doing this parenting thing, day by day, I feel barely capable of taking...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news