Morning Ritual For Working Parents

The Transition From Cocoon To The Outer World

There is a moment quiet, tender,
when the cocoon begins to open.
The softness of early parenthood begins to meet the edges of the outer world.
When you rise not just for your baby, but to meet the day that calls you beyond them.

Returning to work after being at home with your child is a threshold.
You aren’t returning to who you were.
but a step into someone new.

This ritual is for that crossing.

The Ritual: A Morning Bridge

Wake early, even just 10 minutes, before the day rushes in.
Let the morning be slow, even if the day will be full.

Wrap your child in your arms.
Move together.
Let the rhythm of your presence be the first offering of the day.

Cook something warm and grounding.
For me, it was homemade porridge:
organic oats, almond milk, frozen blueberries picked in summer, cinnamon stirred in slow circles.
He sat on my hip.
The kitchen was quiet. Peaceful.

As the food simmered, I whispered a karakia.
A blessing for our day.
A prayer for protection, ease, joy.
A soft spell of connectionso even when I left, something of me stayed.

Ritual becomes the thread between.

Not to fix the grief of separation,
but to honour it.
To carry love into the day, gently woven into the body and breath.