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RESEARCH Adjusting to a different way of parenting The experiences and perspectives of mothers raising a child with Cerebral Palsy – Hōkai Nukurangi in Aotearoa. By DR MEG SMITH In August last year I graduated from Auckland University of Technology with a Doctor of Health Science. My thesis was titled Adjusting to a Different Way of Parenting and my research explored the experiences and perspectives of caregivers raising a school-age child with Cerebral Palsy (CP) – Hōkai Nukurangi in Aotearoa. Only mothers replied to my call for people to interview and I ended up interviewing 15 mothers throughout the country who had children with a wide range of CP, including spastic diplegia, hemiplegia, spastic quadriplegia and invisible challenges. The interviews revealed how the child’s birth marked the beginning of an unexpected and challenging parenting journey for mothers. While they had anticipated joyful experiences, the reality required significant adjustment and adaptation to a different way of parenting. I grouped this experience of adjustment into three major themes which I called: the difficult start, rowing upstream, and winning but not as expected. The difficult start “A difficult start” describes how many mothers faced an While they felt their babies received good care, most mothers felt emotionally unsupported and were left to navigate their emotions on their own. unexpected and challenging start, with premature labour, emergency caesareans, and the overwhelming experience of having a fragile baby in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). While they felt their babies received good care, most mothers felt emotionally unsupported and were left to navigate their emotions on their own. The emotional toll of these early experiences was often left unaddressed, leaving lasting effects on their mental health. The CP diagnosis was frequently delivered in an unsupportive manner, deepening the sense of isolation and trauma. For some, these layers of distress contributed to the breakdown of their marriages, adding to the complexity of their parenting journey. For many, this time in their lives had a profound effect on both their physical and mental health and well-being. 14 | THE REVIEW MARCH 2026