Meghan Markle Says Pressures to Be a ‘Good’ Wife and Mom Are ‘Pretty Trapping’
Even Meghan Markle has felt the strain created by pressures to be a “good” wife and mom, and she opened about overcoming them on an episode of her Archetypes podcast. The Duchess of Sussex explained how buying into the expectations of others could sometimes create traps.
Though her family went through a turbulent period with a lot of change in a short time, she has established some rituals with them in their Montecito mansion. And she has some words of wisdom for others who might feel like they’re falling short of their goals to be “good.”
A typical day at home with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry
For a quick recap, Harry and Meghan married in 2018, had Archie in 2019, stepped down as senior royals in 2020, and had Lilibet in 2021. That’s a lot of change in a few short years, but Meghan shared that they were able to establish some routines.
On an episode of her Archetypes podcast, Meghan described a typical day in their home with two children under the age of 4. Her guests for the episode were Canadian First Lady Sophie Trudeau and Better Things actor and director Pamela Adlon.
“It’s both monitors on for the kids, to hear them,” Meghan described her mornings (per Reader’s Digest). “[I’m] always up with Lili, get her downstairs, then half an hour later, Archie’s up … My husband’s helping me get him downstairs, and I make breakfast for all three of them.”
Meghan Markle discusses the pressures to be a ‘good’ wife to Prince Harry and a ‘good’ mom to their 2 kids
Meghan might have made getting up and starting the day for a family of four sound pretty straightforward, but she added that it’s “so much work to be a mom when you are just trying to be a conscious parent to raise good, kind human beings …”
The former Deal or No Deal model also noted that “to do that solo is the most impressive, admirable thing on the planet.”
“The pressures imposed [on] being a mom, a good mom or a good wife, the ideals we try to live up to and the expectations we self-impose …,” she said. “They’re pretty trapping.”
Meghan Markle encourages moms to be who they are, despite ideas about good and bad
On that episode of Archetypes, Meghan, who knows all about mom shaming, also acknowledged that there are many ways to be a “good” mom. “You can be the mom who says she needs a break for just a minute, and then, if you’re like me, sits in bed scrolling through pictures of, you guessed it, your kids,” she noted.
She also said, “You can be the mom who never misses a school pickup or drop-off and bakes the perfect cookies, or be the one who buys the cookies from the store because that works too.”
“Just as you can be the wife whose claim to fame is making pot roast,” she went on, “or the wife who admittedly makes only one thing well: reservations.”
“We are all doing the best we can, so maybe it’s time to let go of these archetypes … riddled with so much judgment, and instead focus on one thing: being a good person,” she concluded.
