Parenting is no walk in the park. From the day you bring them home, their life is tied to yours. And while babies are adorable and make you feel warm inside, there are a lot of challenges to being a parent. Sleepless nights are only the beginning. Here are 12 difficult things parents face when raising kids.
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Having to Deal With a Lack of Self-Preservation
Here is a detailed summary, “They are creative and come up with all kinds of ways to try and kill themselves. Keeping ahead of the game is exhausting.” One parent calls children “little suicide machines.“
Weight Gain
“During pregnancy, I gained 35 lbs. My belly has stretch marks, and my breasts are all saggy,” mentions a user.
Sleep Deprivation
Another challenging thing about having a child is sleep deprivation. Sure, sleeping two to three hours is inevitable for the first few months but don’t think you’ll be able to get 8 hours of sleep once they hit puberty – you’ll lose sleep worrying whether they will get home safely!
Worrying How Others Would Treat Their Kid
This is another constant worry you’ll face. One parent says, “I will never forget the first time I saw another child being mean to my daughter and having to keep it together and remind myself that it was a child. It’s difficult.“
Watching Kids Make the Same Mistakes
No matter how often you tell your kid not to do something, it will always end up the same – they’ll do it again! But one dad writes, “I’m fine if my son makes the same mistakes I did because at least I know how to come of it. My biggest worry is him doing something I haven’t done. I’ll not know how to help him.”
Constant Anxiety That You’re Doing Enough
“All children deserve good parents,” reads a post. So as a good parent, you will always be anxious about whether “you are doing enough to shape them to make good choices, a good life, to be a good person, and for them to have the life they deserve.“
Feeding Them Every Day
Feeding is a daily affair, three meals a day with snacks in between. One poster says, “And the food should be healthy, tasty, and interesting. And you have to mix it up, try a variety, and it needs to be cheap.”
They’re Always There
Oh, and they are always there with you! “On you, behind you, in front of you, just like a speed bump, impeding every task.” In short, forget about your freedom because “there’s so much planning and thinking.”
And you don’t get days off from parenting. “It’s incessant. It never stops. Going from having two days per week to relax and do whatever, to never having a moment free of responsibility,” details a parent.
Giving up a Part of Yourself
You also lose a part of yourself – which some parents are okay with, while others mourn their loss.
“I miss the freedom. I was well aware I’d lose it with kids, but it doesn’t mean I don’t miss being able to go out for drinks after work whenever or take a trip. That said, I’d do it all over again because I love my kids.“
Marriage Strain
Sadly, kids can easily cause marriage strain even when the pregnancy is planned. It gets more challenging when the child has a disability and needs special care.
Traveling Is More Complicated
“Want to fly? Gotta plan for a stroller and a car seat. (You also check) which car rental place is in the terminal so you don’t have to haul your kids’ stuff on a bus,” explains a parent.
Unsolicited Advice
A six-month-old mom says, “Apparently everything you know is wrong, and the only reliable source is ‘trust me, I raised kids 30/60 years ago, this is how it should be done.‘”
Source: Reddit
Featured Photo from Shutterstock
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