Today I’m linking up with Theme Thursday. This week’s theme is:
“Things I Wish I Knew Before I Became A Parent.”
The first thing that comes to mind is sleep. I wish I had known the value of sleep, and how it’s better than chocolate. Make that better than chocolate fudge brownies served on a gold platter by singing unicorns. Had I known the value of sleep, I would have purchased hundreds of shares of this valuable commodity back when it was cheap.
Instead, I was busy chasing those stupid unicorns (and by chasing unicorns, I mean going to the bar, talking on the phone, watching TV, or basically doing anything that wasn’t sleeping because I could always sleep in the next day).
Sleeping in- that’s what it’s called,right? When you do that thing where you wake up and the sun is actually out, and you look at your clock it and it doesn’t start with a 6 (or a 5, God forbid!)?
I also wish that I had known that children have temper tantrums even when they have good parents.
I always assumed when I saw kids misbehaving in public that it was because their parents didn’t discipline them properly. In some cases this is true, but I also now realize that I severely overestimated the parents’ responsibility in these melt downs.
Sometimes kids throw fits. They just do. And had I known this, I might have done a little less eye-rolling back when I thought I knew everything.
I also wish I had realized that no matter how busy I felt in those pre-baby days, I had a lot of spare time. I never felt like I did, but that’s because I spent a lot of it doing trivial things like styling my hair and watching Real Housewives marathons. And showering.
Maybe if I knew how much spare time I had, back then, I would have been more productive. Maybe I would have taken a photography class or cleaned out my basement. (Yeah right.)
But here’s the thing- I don’t actually wish I had known any of these things, because I’m truly having an awesome time figuring it out bit by bit. And I have my daughter to thank for teaching me so many lessons that I would never have learned on my own.
And now, I really do appreciate the value of sleep. And showers.
I’m linking up with Theme Thursday. If you like Thursday and themes, then maybe you should too!
so true! I have a month old baby along with two older ones right now (which means no sleeping when the baby sleeps!) and sleep is my main priority most of the time.
ReplyDeleteI used to assume the same thing about kids who threw fits, boy am I taking that back now! My sister has a 4 year old with behavior issues and even though she's very vigilant about discipline, he loses control of his emotions and throws massive screaming tantrums frequently. She gets judged so much by others for her "bad parenting", but she's is a great mother and her younger two children are a testament to that.
I don't know how you do it. You must really be "Supermommy" (Without the Or Not part)
DeleteOur son is 32 now but I can still remember those groggy nights when all I wanted was to slip into sleepy oblivion.
ReplyDeleteExactly. Sleepy oblivion. Sounds like a beautiful place!
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ReplyDeleteKeesha, I only deleted this because I think your comment actually got posted twice. I didn't think it would say "This comment has been removed my a blog administrator". I thought the whole duplicate comment would just disapear. Just putting this out there, so no one mistakenly thinks you wrote something inappropriate! :)
DeleteI would love to get some really cool t-shirt with a witty saying meant for those cute 20-somethings who look at us and see some unfashionable chubby mommy. And for those who think that if they had our kids, they'd be able to parent them so much better.
ReplyDeleteI hate the idea of being the "unfashionable chubby mommy". (But I KNOW that's what 20 year olds think when they see me!)
DeleteWe need a really clever t-shirt dedicated to childless 20 somethings who dismiss us unfashionable chubby mommies, as well as to those who think they could do a way better job with our children that we can!
ReplyDeleteCan you please invent this t-shirt? Love it.
DeleteSo true! I thought the nigh wake-ups would be more like they are at the 6-month mark at the beginning. I was so very, very wrong!
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine once told me she saw a kid having a temper tantrum in a mall once, and do you know what the kid's mom did? She just put a sign in front of him that said, "TEMPER TANTRUM" and sat quietly next to him while he finished. Genius!
Loved your post and I'm so glad you joined in on the fun! I hope you'll be a regular!!!
That's hilarious. I wonder- did she have the sign pre-made and ready, or did she have markers and paper ready to go in her purse for impromptu sign making needs?
DeleteThanks for hosting the link-up!
Wait, you can get up in hours that don't start with 5 or 6?? Here's hoping for loads of sleep somehow magically coming your way--with singing unicorns and gold platters or not ;)
ReplyDeleteOh believe me, there WILL be singing unicorns.
DeleteSo very right!!! How're you doing?! Visiting you after a long time!! :(
ReplyDeleteI haven't stopped by your blog in a little while either. Thanks for visiting!
DeleteHaha- I so remember those days well! Can the sleep fairy come here?
ReplyDeleteIf you get the sleep fairy to come visit you, you'll need to tell me how you did it!
DeleteI hated when ppl would say "get all the sleep you can now!". I still hate it, what they SHOULD say is "savor every minute of restful, peaceful, uninterrupted sleep you can get now. And remember it because who knows how long it will be till you get it again!" on second thought that's just mean.
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