Lessons learned from parenting
I bet I'll be tempted to do this someday
- Sleeping all night and sleeping in are luxuries
- There will be days you go through 6 outfit changes (3 for you and 3 for baby)
- Your baby will crawl before you are ready for it
- Once he crawls, he will find whatever miniscule speck you missed with the vacuum or broom. This speck will go straight to the mouth and get swallowed before you know what it is.
- Daddies will give the baby all kinds of food, including cake and cheez-its.
- Staying up late now means 10:00.
- You plan grocery shopping around nap times.
- Mommy’s glasses/hair/cell phone/keys/project for work/anything is infinitely more interesting than any and all toys.
- Your child’s laughter is one of the sweetest sounds in the world. The only thing sweeter is hearing them saying “momma”.
- You inevitably end up with the grocery cart missing it’s strap that helps keep your child somewhat contained and from grabbing for everything on the shelves.
- Cuddle time is more important that a spotless house.
- They will find a way to the power cord you thought you had sufficiently hidden.
- The store clerk who notices your child and talks to them is suddenly your favorite.
- Always remember to check the diaper bag before you leave to make sure you have everything you need.
- Sometimes you have to let them cry themselves to sleep.
- Turning on the camera or video camera is like hitting an off button on your child. They immediately cease to do whatever cute thing they were doing.
- You can do more one-handed than you ever realized you could do.
- You have a list of things you don’t dare do during nap time and a list of things you can only do during nap time.
- When breastfeeding, you will avoid certain foods you love for the sake of your child.
- The joys and rewards of parenting outweigh all the struggles and challenges it presents.
I could continue this list but I’d love to hear from you! What things would you put on a list of things learned from being a parent?
Something I've learned is that it takes two parents, a mother and a father, to do it right. I our marriage/parenting relationship I tend to be the more laissez faire as well as the less patient.
I tend to err on the side of letting the kid cry longer or moving him into his own room sooner or other such separating things while my wife tends to err towards cuddling and nurturing and it is in this tensions between our disparate styles that we find a happy medium.
While William has been an easy child so far, each of our peculiarities has helped shape him into what he is today. And it is our peculiarities honed with age and charted with wisdom that will hopefully allow us to continue to raise children in the way they ought to go.