Parenting...From Varied Perspectives

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"If you have children, how different is parenthood from what you had expected? If you don't have children, how do you think parenthood would change your life?"

Parenting is harder than I ever expected.  The worst part is sticking to my guns when I have established a penalty for something.  It's so easy to be worn down by the constant begging, whining, and pleas for compromise.  I never dreamed how tiring it would be to be a parent.  I'm not just the mom...I'm the household manager.  I have to coordinate everything and make sure that everything gets done, whether it be by me, my husband, or my kids.  If something isn't done or we don't do something we were supposed to do, it ultimately falls back on me.  The emotional energy required is overwhelming...something I never dreamed of.  Before being a parent, I was really just responsible for me.  Now, I'm responsible for everyone in the family. 

The other thing that was never really something I thought about was that my kids aren't just little "mini me's".  They're not like I was as a child.  Well, not usually anyway, LOL.  Maybe that's a good thing.  No really.  Things that I was good at, they need help with.  The good thing is that they each have things they're good at that I never was good at!  Sometimes I have a hard time relating to the things they're not as good at...or I have a hard time knowing how to teach them if it was something I didn't struggle with myself.  Certain aspects of music learning are a good example of that.  Things that came easy to me are things that they have to work at.

One more thing that's a parenting mind-boggler is scheduling.  I don't know how some people accomplish everything that needs to be done, because I struggle.  It goes back to being responsible for everything, I suppose, but I never feel like there's time to get everything done.  I'm literally on the go from the time I get up til almost bedtime, every day.  If I sit down and relax, I feel guilty, because there's something that I've left undone in order to have a few minutes to myself.  Tonight, for instance, when I finally did sit down, I realized that ds hadn't practiced violin.  That involves me.  I didn't feel like having to put back on my mom hat, so I let him slack.  Again.  Bad me.

This is a short season of my life...soon, all too soon, I'll have an empty nest.  And then I'll miss this rat race called A Parent's Life.  I will miss it very, very, very much.

To read the other perspective from my teen, click here.