What Would You Like to Know Before You Have Children?
Even before you have children, you have a vision in your head of what it will be like. Maybe you can imagine throwing a soccer ball in the backyard, teaching them how to ride a bike, or having their eyes light up on Christmas morning.
I imagined it all. What I did not foresee was how important ear infections and respiratory tract treatment would play in my son’s early years. Or how difficult it would be to live 2,000 miles from a family with a toddler who was sick all the time.
Reddit user u / take7pieces didn’t expect a complete lack of bathroom privacy, how you sometimes have to sing the same song eight times before bed, or how they never lie nice and still for changing diapers when you really need them. lay motionless.
So u / take7pieces posed a question to the parenting community on Reddit : What didn’t anyone tell you before you had kids? And the answers came:
- There is no such thing as “just run to the store as soon as possible.” (u / mama22monkees)
- Answering questions you thought you knew the answer. What kind of fire? Why do we have heaven? Why are bricks harder than rods? I didn’t realize how little I really knew about things until I had a child old enough to ask me. (u / pizzaguzzler)
- When YOU are sick, nobody cares and you just have to keep going. (u / BobLoblawsLawBlog201)
- How can you spend an entire day begging that it’s time to put the kids to bed … and then 3 minutes after they fall asleep, you want to sneak in to snuggle because you miss them. (n / sparkingrock)
- Potty training is much more annoying than diapers. (u / Shrimpy_McWaddles)
- Random rules that you come up with almost daily. (u / Mairead_Idris_Pearl)
- Wish them to rush to grow up or get to a certain stage in life, but also be sad that you will never see them as small as they are now. (u / blonder34)
- What a ruthless upbringing. Obviously, I knew that if you got sucked into them, you would never stop raising them, but I really thought that as they got older, they would feel better and feel less than 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (u / something7131)
- That they will just have their own ideas when they grow up and not be like you, as you thought. Or they will feel like they have inherited your worst traits, and it will drive you crazy because it is annoying, but you know where they got it from. (u / TinyT74)
- How hard it is not to laugh when your child does something bad … but funny. (u / MissDelaylah)
I would also add that I wish I knew how much children forgive. That you really don’t have to perfect it the first time or every time. You can lose your temper and snap at them, or completely screw up in any number of ways. If you apologize, they will be the first to forgive you.
Your turn! What did no one tell you before you had children? Or what would you like to know?