Things Nobody Told Me About Parenting
When I first became a mother, I thought of all of the cute parenting movies I had ever seen. I pictured myself making crafts with my littles in a beautiful white kitchen and watching adorable children's movies on weekends.
I wasn't told that those adorable craft nights would end up with me cleaning glue and glitter off of the ceiling and walls, or that the cute movie nights would consist of my children leaving the room after the first 15 minutes to go watch a show on YouTube.
I realized, after twelve years of parenting that there were a lot of things I was not told before I had children. Here are just a few of the things that I have experienced. Maybe you will benefit from this information if you are new to parenting, thinking about parenting or just need to know you're not alone....
No one told me that my child may try to set the house on fire. Or, anything on fire for that matter. About a year ago, our (at the time) seven-year-old son, thought it would be fun to see what a torch would do to his bedroom furniture, notebooks and carpet. So, he snuck into our bedroom, took a torch lighter out of our room and began to find out what fire does to plastic, carpet and paper. I was able to catch the act before massive damage or harm could be done.... but it was a huge eye opener for me.
No one mentioned that my child may one day tell his teacher to shove it. Yup, our twelve-year-old was given an English assignment a few weeks back. Rather than actually doing the assignment, he felt it was a better idea to send the teacher two words on a google doc. "Screw You" - Needless to say, I was mortified, and the teacher has never experienced anything like it before.
I would have appreciated a heads up about the possibility that my children would keep the fact that they felt ill from me to avoid doctors' visits. This was probably one of the most upsetting things I wish I had been aware of.... before it happened to me. Our daughter had obtained a UTI that was giving her pain. She decided not to let myself or my husband know about the pain, in fear of having to visit her doctor to get better. As a result, she ended up with a 104 fever... a rush to the emergency room and a call from Child Protective Services to find out why I let the illness get to that point. Although we were cleared of any wrongdoing... I now question my daughter about her health on a weekly basis and check her temperature each morning. Just in case.
Apparently, hiding food around the house is something all young children do from time to time. Wish someone had let that little tidbit of information into my mind before my children passed toddler age. I cannot even express the number of molded food items I have found hidden in our household over the years. At one point, I got so upset about it that I have started moving furniture every two days in all rooms to make sure nothing is lurking out of sight.
There are many different aspects that come with parenting outside of the glow of the pretty lady you see on magazines staring down at her perfect belly with no stretchmarks....
Parenting isn't all sunshine, rainbows, butterfly kisses and bedtime stories. Sometimes, you have screaming matches over the last cheese stick, video game smackdowns and tantrums thrown in the middle of Target.
Although I've taken a moment to highlight the not-so-magical portion of parenting, I have to say, all of those frustrating times are overshadowed by the positives. The monstrous number of hugs they ask for throughout the day, the happy smiles they get at the smallest things, and hearing them say I love you... There's nothing like it in the world.
So, maybe not being told about everything that could possibly happen isn't so bad after all.
š§”Shine Bright, Kayla