Reply to Being a working parent (during non-pandemic times)

Forum Index » General Parenting Discussion

Reply to "Being a working parent (during non-pandemic times) - is it as bad as it seems?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, get ready for people to tell you you’re going to be sleep deprived and miserable no matter what you do.

I was nervous about having kids, for a lot of the same reasons you are. Everyone told me you never sleep, it’s so hard, you never get time alone, how will you possible do things you love?  It was really weird how much negativity there was around being a parent. When I was pregnant and hated being pregnant people said “oh just wait it’s going to get so much worse”.  When he was a calm, sweet baby they said, “oh just wait until he crawls”. Then he crawled and it was so much fun, and they said “oh just wait until he walks, THEN you’ll be miserable”.  Then when I wasn’t miserable, they said well wait until he starts taking, preschool, elementary school, teenagers.... And on and on.

I’m not sleep deprived or miserable, but a lot of people for some reason want to tell you that you will be. It’s really weird. [/quote]

It's because they were miserable and misery loves company. I've experienced the same. Everyone kept telling me at some point it would be awful. Kids are in elementary now and while I am not deluding myself that everything will be perfect, it hasn't been awful like some people say it is. I think the main things that contribute to bad experiences include (1) kids who don't sleep (some of this is kid-related, some of this is the parents' fault), (2) not enough money (no surprise that money makes everything easier), (3) spouses who are unhelpful (this can happen with both husbands and wives), (4) stressful jobs (i.e. no ability to be flexible, constant pressure to perform, etc.), (5) environmental factors (i.e. long commutes, high cost of living - see #2), and (6) loss of identity (some of the most miserable people I know gave up everything they did pre-kids so they have no outlets or ability to get away from it all).[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics