Inside you as a parent and main caregiver is a 'mama or dada bear' or 'tigress' ready to protect their cubs against any potential attack, real or imagined. It is a part of your psyche that you were probably never aware existed. Becoming a parent brings this ultimate protective and fighting machine to the forefront. It is an essential component of any main caregiver and is a dormant evolutionary figure waiting for its moment to emerge and shine. Every culture has a word for this protective factor and in this blog I'm calling it the mama or dada bear. 

Return to your own experience of being a child and remember what it was to be totally safe and protected. Just imagine what it is like for a child to rest in the true unconditional love of a mama or dada bears arms, knowing you are perfectly safe. This is someone who is able to give you, the vulnerable young child the care, attention and respect you need and deserve. 

This caregiver has your best interests at heart and is able to put their own needs aside to keep you safe from any potential threat. To imagine this is to live in a state of true bliss where you never need to worry about anything. All your needs are taken care of. Your inner mama or dada bear feels this protective quality fiercely and deeply. And this is an innate strength you can call on at any time in your child's life to help and protect them. As a newborn this is a time of ultimate vulnerability and helplessness. 

Sometimes this may come easily but on occasions it may be tough. It really depends on your own experience of being parented and how protective and nurturing your own main caregiver was. 

Awakening the mama or dada bear within is one of the most beautiful aspects of a main caregiver. It gives energy, unconditional love, nurturing, physical care and gut instinct or intuition you may never realised you had laying dormant in you. This asset may be there from birth or it may appear in times of crisis. You have this sudden realisation you would lay down your life for your child. 

It is a truly selfless gift and helps to nurture and strengthen the bond between you and your child.