Are You Ready For Parenthood?
Motherhood (and parenthood in general) is wonderful and one of the greatest blessings a couple can have, but at the same time, years of raising small humans will test our limits, patience and sanity like nothing else! We can talk about the experience of parenthood in theory all day long, but someone can never really know what they are in for until having children of their own.
Recently, a quiz (of sorts) known as the “14 Day Challenge” was developed to determine whether or not adults were truly ready for all that parenthood entails. It’s certainly meant to be humorous, but there is a lot of truth to what the challenge is saying about parenthood! Here are a few of the major ideas that the highlighted:
Pregnancy & Preparation
For women, making another human body is no joke! There is fatigue, morning sickness, loss of mobility, and sadly, even complications of many kinds that can affect your health and of course, that of the baby. Those nine months that you grow and carry a little child for you are not easy, as they take a major toll on your body and emotions.
Ability to Deal With Chaos
Going to the grocery store isn’t necessarily fun, but it’s not that difficult as an adult, right? Make a list of items, check your budget, and get to shopping! Try doing that with little humans who have not yet mastered the skills of patience or appropriate behavior in public. It can be frustrating as heck! A friend recently joked that it would be easier to take a herd of goats to the store instead of her kids.
Home Organization
Keeping your home organized will be much more of a challenge that it’s ever been, and, particularly if you’re someone who really values a clean house, you’ll need to get used to a new reality that things will not be perfect in this regard. They just won’t…and it’s ok!
Financial Commitment
Keeping our finances afloat as adults is hard enough: there’s housing, food, insurance, cars, gas, college, etc. Working toward and maintaining a thriving career is a major goal that we should strive for to ensure a healthy financial life. Throw kids into the mix? Whole new ball game. Children are expensive, childcare isn’t cheap, growing your family may mean a parent stays home (thus losing the potential of full-time income), and moms and dads really have to communicate and work together to make sure their financial needs are met.
This blog post is not meant to discourage individuals from having children, nor is it meant to cast parenthood as misery or in a purely negative light. Rather, it’s intended to highlight some of the realities and challenges of having little ones join your family. If speaking honestly, every parent will tell you there are good days, bad days ,and many unexpected experiences along the way. We’re all learning as we go, so let’s support each other and give ourselves credit for doing our best!
Remember, it is your life choices and relationships/ commitments that determine whether or not you have kids. Are you responsible enough? (no one is perfect, so please don’t think you need to be!). Is this a commitment you’re willing to make? The truth is, no one is ever truly ready for parenthood- no matter how many books you read or workshops you attend. You learn on the way and just make a decision to be good enough each and every day. You will totally mess up and make mistakes- so be prepared to say “I’m sorry” a lot and grow and stretch in ways you never knew possible…and that is what will make you an awesome Mom or Dad.