Mother Knows Best
Growing up, you probably heard your mother or father say that you wouldn’t understand something until you become a parent yourself. This could be a weird rule that never made sense or maybe their overprotective attitude. Either way, here are 20 things you really don’t understand until you do become a parent.
1. Overwhelming Feeling of Responsibility
When you have a kid, you quickly realize that every little action you do, no matter how insignificant it may seem to you, will impact an entire human being. You’ll find yourself constantly worrying about everything from their happiness to their safety, and that can be quite overwhelming.
2. Taking a Night Off
Sometimes your friends will ask you to simply take a night off and hang out with them, but in reality, you don’t want to do that. Spending your weekend with your kid will suddenly sound way more fun than going out for drinks.
3. Learning to Sing
From singing lullabies to distracting them with impromptu musical numbers, you’ll find yourself quickly becoming a superstar singer in your own right. You’ll also learn all the catchy songs playing on kids' TV by heart.
4. Physical Demands
People might look at a kid and assume it isn’t too physically intensive, but they’d be wrong. All that carrying, lifting, and chasing is quite the full-body workout. That fact, paired with sleep deprivation, is a strenuous combination.
5. The Importance of Sleep
Speaking of sleep, you’ll suddenly realize how good you had it. In fact, you’ll never appreciate sleep as much as you will after having a kid, as naps become a sacred and rare event.
6. Emotional Demands
Children aren’t just physically demanding, they’re also emotionally demanding. Something as minor as a scraped knee becomes an entire emergency, and you always have to keep a strong face.
7. Overplanning Outings
If you do decide to go out with friends or have an event to attend, you’ll have to plan it like a military operation. Every fine detail, from the travel checkpoints to the babysitting check-ins, will have to be scheduled.
8. Anxiety When They’re Out
Whenever your child is out and about, you’ll feel this nerve-wracking sense of anxiety. As kids, you might have found yourself annoyed by how your parents always checked up on you and had to know the details of every outing. But as a parent yourself, you’ll understand how scary and unpredictable the world is.
9. Balancing Their Wants and Needs
It’s also important to find the balance between being their caretaker and being their friend. Sometimes you want to indulge in a little fun, but other times you need to focus on discipline. So no matter how badly they want to do a sleepover or go to a concert, you have to do what makes the most sense.
Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash
10. Financial Demands
By now, everyone’s probably realized how expensive kids are—from diapers to daycare to doctor visits. However, you’ll be surprised how willing you are to sacrifice your own wants and expenses to cater to your child's.
11. Fierce Protectiveness
Sometimes our parents embarrass us by how defensive or protective they can get. But as parents, you will feel this primal instinct kick in whenever you think your kid is in danger. This is also why you have to be strict sometimes, as it’s the only way to keep them safe.
12. Loyalty No Matter What
Sometimes we look at parents of kids who do bad things and are shocked to see the parents stand by their child. However, as parents, you’ll find yourself unable to escape your loyalty to your son or daughter. There’s very little they can do that would ever make you abandon them.
13. Seeing the World Through New Eyes
A child opens up your eyes to other sides of the world, reigniting your own imagination and wonder. From creative bedtime stories to bubbles in the bath, there are plenty of sweet moments to enjoy.
Juliane Liebermann on Unsplash
14. Re-Experiencing Life
Having a kid is a great way to experience life as a child once more. You’ll partake in birthday parties, buy toys, and go to amusement parks. You’ll find yourself nostalgic for your own childhood.
15. The Weight of Future Decisions
Parents may come across as tightly wired or snappy, but when you become a parent, you suddenly realize why. The weight of an entire being's future is in your hands—from shaping their values to ensuring their good grades. It’s a lot!
16. Setting a Good Example
Similarly, you’ll have to let go of some of your wilder sides to set a good example. Asking your kid to respect a curfew when you’re out late partying can lead to a double standard, which is why plenty of parents are quick to drop bad habits and act holier than their kids.
17. Combatting Social Media
In the modern era especially, social media adds another layer of complexity to parenting. The kid might never understand why they’re banned from Instagram or X, but they might be grateful when they grow older and see the Photoshop, societal expectations, hate, and aggressiveness perpetuated on such sites.
18. Combatting Technology
Similarly, as a parent, you have to find a fine line between playtime, work time, and screen time. As kids, we detested our parents for limiting our computer time or taking our phones away, but as adults, you realize that keeping your child engaged with the real world, as well as the virtual world, is important.
19. Neglecting Housework
Some people think parents have perfectly clean and put-together houses, with large family portraits and sectional couches. In reality, you’ll find your house is often a mess, and you can never have nice things without fear of someone throwing up on them.
20. Having to Let Go
As kids, we might never understand why our parents struggled so much with our independence, but as a parent, you’ll realize just how hard it is to let go. Letting your kid grow up, move out, or go away to college is like losing a best friend.
