... Or parenthood from the male perspective.

... Or parenthood from the male perspective.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Week 21 Day 1

   Since I’m still kind of on this rant, I’d just like to add that we REALLY love the comments that go something like this: “Enjoy it now while you can.”  Or “Get all the sleep you can now because you won’t get any once the baby is born.”
   Let’s examine these statements shall we?  “Enjoy it now while you can”?  This insinuates that we haven’t been enjoying it so we’d better start.  (Never mind that we’ve been married for 11 glorious years and are ready to make our already awesome family plus one.) 
   Or maybe a statement like this suggests that once the baby is here we’re never going to enjoy anything again for the rest of our lives.  If this were the case, why didn’t the human race become extinct long ago?  I know people mean well when they say things like this, but I really just feel sad for them because they are either lying through their teeth or they missed something vital.  (I say that now)
   And get all our sleep now?  What, can I bank it?  If I sleep for 72 straight hours, can I save it for when I really need it?  No?  I didn’t think so.  And last time I checked, I’m still employed and this employment is responsible for the standard of living that we’ve become accustomed to.
   I don’t think I will be able to repeat this enough:  The only thing we know is that we don’t know how much our lives will change.  We know we’re going to get tired.  We know that this is going to be hard.  We know that once we become parents, we will never cease to be parents.  And we don’t know just how intense all of these things will be. 
   But all you existing parents out there:  do you really have to rub it in?  I’m trying real hard not to be an ass but you’re not making it any easier on me. 
   I hope when the shoe is on the other foot (ours) we can find something else to say to our pregnant friends/family/children thus breaking the circle of assyness.

4 comments:

  1. Oh man, I love this post, it's so, so true. What in the heck are you supposed to do with those comments? Now that I am a mother to a toddler girl I am constantly hearing some variation of "she's sweet now but just wait until she's a teenager, she will hate you". How rude is that?

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  2. I know, right?! And now you've given me something ELSE to look forward to. I can hardly wait!
    I know I do this too, but can people just think about what they say before they say it?!

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  3. It's only just begun... having a baby gives people some kind of inherent right to try to run your life. I gotta say: having kids has changed my life for THE GOOD. I cannot imagine the self-absorbed, shallow person I would be without these amazing little miracles...

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  4. I am with Tori-lens!Everybody thinks they can raise a baby better! It is the same with teaching. Parents truly believe they know how to teach your class. Really? Getting 37 sophomores in a hot, crowded room to understand syntax, predicates and adverbial clauses, when they have never been taught these things and should have learned about them 5 years ago? Go ahead, make my day!

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