Lilia’s Blog

Someone asked me this question recently: What was the most surprising thing about being a Mom? As I pondered the question, I realized that there were so many things that surprised me, I really didn’t know where to start.

As a now veteran mom with two tween-aged children, I look back on the adventures of the early years. First, when they were infants and later, when they were toddlers. During those years I felt like I’d been punk’d by Ashton Kutcher, and that the crazy, messy, exhausting, sleep-deprived days would disappear when someone announced it was all a well planned and carefully executed joke. That never happened. I had not been punk’d. This was my life and I was going with it.

Following the birth of our daughter, my husband and I quickly learned that parenting was no walk in the park. In fact, parenting was hard work. I frequently sat perplexed wondering why nobody, especially those people who claimed to love me, had explained this to me. Nobody told me how challenging it would be (not that I would have been able to grasp or comprehend what they meant if they had told me.) I suppose we had to learn it first hand. We learned many things during those years:

• We learned that so much of parenting infants is guesswork. All they can do is cry when something is wrong. As the parents, it was our job to figure out what that was and fix it
• We learned that there can be some “gross” aspects to parenting: small bodies can emit large odors; young children either can’t or won’t tell you what they need - I never dreamed I’d be fishing poop out of the bathtub because my toddler did not tell me he had to go
• We learned how perfectly perfect babies truly are
• We learned that a child’s hug, smile, laugh or kiss can raise your spirits and make you forget all of your troubles in an instant
• We learned that children survive our parenting in spite of our lack of training and experience

Parenting truly is a full-time job with huge responsibilities, but amazing benefits. I am amazed every day by my children - by the beauty of their souls and the resilience of their spirit. 

©2009 Lilia L. Fallgatter

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Tags: Life, Parenting, Relationships //