No matter how many books you read, people you talk to and advice you get, there are some things you can’t understand about being a parent until you have a kid of your own. Some of these things are amazing discoveries, but not all of them. A post on Reddit’s Mommit forum has people admitting the tough truths by asking, “What’s the ‘hard pill to swallow’ about motherhood?”
These are some of the most relatable responses, even if they’re hard to accept:
- “You can love your child more than anything and still need time away from them to recoup. But then the mom guilt sets in.”
- “For me it was parenting while sick! That was tough when I first got sick with my oldest. Like, what do you mean I still have to parent? Where is my mom to take care of me?”
- “With our parents’ health collectively declining and having young kids, we are suddenly The Adults in every situation. No matter whose home we were at, we’re now The Adults everyone looks to for solutions, and we feel entirely unprepared for this level of responsibility!”
- “Nothing is ever going to go perfectly when there are kids involved lol, and life is more fun for everyone (including you) when you accept that.”
- “If you’re not careful about who you have a kid with, you’re stuck with that person for the rest of your life. I’ll see my child’s father at the birthday parties of our grandkids. I don’t get rid of him after 18 years.”
- “Sleeping in is not an option for the foreseeable future.”
- “The fact that I can’t truly protect my children. My control over their safety is so small and I want to lock my doors, never let them leave and curl up in a ball and cry.”
- “That they grow up. I’m constantly trying to hold onto the little things and trying to appreciate how small she is now because I know one day she won’t need me as much.”
- “There is no real break. I am on the carousel for the next 20+ years. I’m exhausted.”
- “You can have many friends with kids, be surrounded by other moms, have your ‘village’ and still feel isolated and lonely.”
- “You can’t have it all. I want to be a working stay at home mom who gets breaks from my kids but also is always with my kids who makes a lot of income but also my only job is to focus on the kids.”
- “You can do everything ‘right’ but your child is still their own person and will make their own choices and mistakes.”
Source: Scary Mommy