I love my kids, I just hate parenting
My son is five years old.
Sounds cute, right? He’s still little! He still snuggles with a blankey thing; he often mispronounces words in adorable ways; he still likes to sleep in our bed!
It all sounds downright Disney… unless you have a five-year-old of your own. Then it’s more like Tim Burton.
I’m lucky.
Heart disease isn’t a big trend in my family. Sure, there’s some, my grandfather had some heart issues that contributed to his failing health, and my other grandfather died from a heart attack before I was old enough to remember meeting him.
Aaand now I’m reconsidering my luck. Especially since my doctor recently told me that my triglycerides were a little high – which apparently is not a good thing, because when I tried to fist-bump him he got mad.
When you have kids, being tired becomes a way of life. A defining characteristic. Part of your personality.
Everyone gets tired as they get older, but when children are part of the equation, recovering lost energy is a lot more difficult. The idea of being able to catch up on sleep is a silly enough myth to begin with, but when you’re a parent desperate for an energy boost, it’s the straight-up Holy Grail.
So is it true? Are parents doomed to be forever tired? Or is there hope?
Everyone is always talking about how having kids changes your perspective on things.
They say that when you experience life through the eyes of your innocent children, you appreciate the little things so much more. And I suppose it’s true.
But kids change everything in your life, not merely the way you look at it.
Have you ever been curious about what I was like before I had kids? Or what I thought about kids when I was single and carefree? Well today is your lucky day!
Like most of you, I had a bit of a different take on kids and parents and parenting before I became a parent – I was not yet a part of the collective – and perhaps nothing I wrote encapsulates that different take better than this piece.