Tuesday, 14 August 2012
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The 8 Toughest Things About Being a Parent
Being a father is one of the most rewarding things that's ever happened to me. If you don't have kids, you just won't get it. People will tell you that having kids will change your life, but until you have your own, those are nothing more than words.
Once you're holding your own infant in your arms, this incredible feeling of love overwhelms you. It really is pretty magical. Give it a few more weeks and your heart somehow finds loads more room to grow.
As the years go by, your kids go through so many different stages. There's a tremendous amount of fun in there, but also a fair amount of tears, frustration, and sleepless nights. I've been a "professional dad" for nine years now, so I thought I'd share some insights with you. Here's a look at the 8 Toughest Things About Being a Parent:
1. Potty Training - This has to be near the tops of every parent's list. No matter how ready you are to train your kid, it doesn't mean squat. It's all about when your kid is ready to learn. Expect some accidents. Lots of accidents.
2. Just Say No - When it's someone else's kid, it's pretty easy. At least for me. But when my little guy wants just one more cookie or to watch just one more episode of The Avengers even thought it's already an hour past his bedtime, it's downright impossible to say no to those adorable little puppy eyes.
3. Feed the Animals - When my kids were real young, they were both amazing eaters. Avocados. Eggs. Tofu. Salmon. They devoured it all! As they got older, dinner time became a daily battle. If only chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese were as healthy as broccoli.
4. Sleep When You're Dead - Parenting would be infinitely easier if only we got a good night's sleep. But when kids are infants, they like to buck the system and keep us on our toes. So for their first few years, we get woken up all night with little sleep, causing the next day to be painfully exhausting.
5. Playing Candyland - I hate playing Candyland. It is easily the most boring game. Ever. Yet my kids love playing it. Over. And over. And over. Again.
6. Let them Learn - Kids make mistakes. They need to spill milk. They need to break things. They need to fall off their bikes. Otherwise, without even trying, they'll never get a fair chance to learn. But man is it tough sitting back and patiently letting them do things at their own pace sometimes.
7. It Really Hurts - The longest night of my life was when my oldest son Jason was in the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. My wife and I sat in the hospital lobby for hours all night, frantically waiting to hear the news. Thankfully he did great, but seeing your own child suffer (heck, even with a basic sore throat), really does hurt.
8. Nut shots - As a dad, my biggest word of advice to other soon-to-be dads: Wear a cup. Always. I can't tell you how many times my kids have kicked me in the hoohahs.
Andrew Kardon is a daddy blogger who writes about his family, video games, comic books, Legos, and more over at Mommy's Busy... Go Ask Daddy. He's also a freelance writer and the president of JoeShopping.com, the friendliest coupons and deals site on the web.
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Comments (19)
lol - this was great!
This was awesome, and so true! I know my husband agree with pretty much all of these points! The potty training was definitely the hardest part, so far. We got so frustrated because all these books and people told us that they "should've learned to go in the toilet" by their age. That's another thing my husband and I have learned, take advice with a grain of salt sometimes. As helpful as some people are trying to be, every kid is different, every situation is different; what worked for your child may not necessarily work for mine.
There should be more dads on here.
#8 made me laugh out loud.
My middle sister pretty much potty trained herself because us older two would wait until we really, really had to pee (we didn't want to stop playing), and then bolt to the bathroom, whichever one "lost the race" would stand there doing the potty dance begging for the other to hurry up. My middle sister figured it must be fun since we were running to the bathroom to do it.
My nephew (mostly) has slept through the night since day 1. haha
@VampireOfSeduction@xanga - I totally agree, there should be more Dads on here. I LOVE hearing their perspective.
And yes, my 3 year old always gives nut-shots to Daddy. And I always LOL. I am heartless.
Nothing makes me happier than reading the real-life stories, blog posts, articles, etc concerning parenting. I think some people feel too guilty to complain, but seriously, parenting has a lot of downsides too!. I agree with all the above mentioned points, especially #1 and #8. Potty training has been the worst for us! It took our oldest 6 months to use her potty consistently, and she wouldn't have accidents. Sounds good, right? Well, she didn't poop on the potty for almost a year after being in underwear full time... Nothing is more disgusting than having to shake a mess into the toilet, wiping your 3 year old's behind, and then scrubbing the smelly remains off the underwear in the bathtub.... Our middle child has been wearing underwear full time for 8 months now, and he still has accidents frequently, and up until recently, still had to wear training pants to bed. Our youngest is almost 2 1/2, and from what we can tell, he's nowhere near ready to let go of his beloved diaper, and we're in no hurry to push him!
Nut shots occur almost daily in our house with our two sons who have yet to discover Daddy's crotch is not a stepping stool. I always laugh though!
Also, Candyland is horrible! I absolutely hate that game, and was so happy when our kids didn't take good care of our's and we had to throw it away. Then, my brother in law and his wife decided to give the kids their's, and I thanked them through gritted teeth ha ha ha.
Just wait until the are adults (barely) and you have to let them make their mistakes.
What a cute post. Love this!! You kids will remember Candyland and all the great memories they had with you
haha cutepost!!
It is tough and most blessing job in the world. The best. When you become a parent, you realized, you will become everything. Cook, doctor, nurse, teacher and all those professional jobs out there that require licenses when you don't have one as a parent!
I loved this.. and I was so happy to find out that it was written by a Dad! Awesome!
My hubby has such a hard time saying No... Especially to the little princess... It is totally true that little girls have their daddies wrapped around their finger! I know I did with mine (ok, I still do =) and our tot sure does with her daddy!
I'm from a different generation when we didn't have 3 and 4 year old kids crapping their pants in public. It happened at an earlier age, and there wasn't anything mean about it. I mean, here you are, having a logical conversation with your child, maybe even starting the principles of reading, and you haven't gotten in the mode for toilet use. Weird. Just plain weird.
too cute. thanks
@Pollypinks@xanga - Yeah, and in that generation, relentless domination and cowering were the common standards of "discipline."
Why so disparaging? "Crapping their pants in public." You are so judgmental. Do you say the same to older adults who can't control their bowels anymore?
Seriously.So now we are comparing relentless domination to easy toilet training tips? I see relentless domination in my own neighborhood, with little children. I think my parents were too hard on me and my brother, but, I think my mother had some kind of depressive disorder. I did not toilet train like her. Every couple of hours, I'd put my children on the potty chair with warm water in it, and in less than 5 minutes I'd take them out. No nastiness involved, My girl took longer than my boy, but, like I say, there was no nastiness involved, if they didn't perform. My young son watched my daughter sitting on her chair for a number of weeks, and one day decided to take his diaper off and sit on it himself. Relentless domination? Really? I'll tell you what relentless domination was, and I have no memory of it, though it may have emotionally scarred me. Mom tying me to the potty chair till I went, and not letting me up. At about 18 months, she started. So when she had advice for me, I told her to bugger off. And now I apologize if I came across nastily when obviously you all know your own children the best, and know how to go about these things. I'm just an old lady, with old lady tips, and when we get ready for my grandson to potty train, I will leave it up to his parents to tell me what and when to do it. He's there kid, but, I take care of him 4 days a week.
All pretty much true, for the first few years anyway. I have a pre-teen girl on my hands and I think I might prefer baby and toddlerhood.
I am helping a very close friend take care of his son while the mother is on deployment to Afghanistan for about 6 months. The little guy is right around 17 months old right now and the mother wants to start potty training him soon, not sure how soon, but soon.
I don't wanna do it =[but at least he's not old enough to take nut shots at me I guess. I hope...
haha i havent played candyland in so long but i would love to play it over and over!