%20transp.png)
The day to day experience of raising a child isn’t exactly fun. There isn’t much to do, right? Yeah… right! But, if you’re a parent you know that babies are time vampires. They suck away the hours of the day and leave you feeling like you did nothing all day, whilst also having had NO time to stop and breathe.
Between the nappies, feeding, settling, putting to sleep – the daily tasks of caring for a baby can be boring, tedious and not very fulfilling. However, looking into your little one’s face can also leave you feeling pure joy, love and delight. Parenting is a paradox. It’s equal parts boring, joyful, dispiriting & delightful.
This is hard because… well, humans don’t love nuance. Our brains aren’t wired for it. We like black and white answers, straightforward simple solutions & uncomplex, uni-dimensional emotions. Unfortunately, this isn’t exactly well aligned with being a parent.
We spend our days wishing for the next stage of our little one’s life, because ‘then things will be easier’ only to miss it once it’s over. We long for them to grow up, and simultaneously wish they would be little again. One of the most accurate phrases about raising little ones is that it is “the longest, shortest time”. This is because the days are LONG and the years are SHORT.
This same sentiment is often the idea behind the phrase “It’s just a season”. Which… I get but when you’re in it, and you can’t see the forest for the trees – this often feels like nothing but dismissal. The grind is real and when you’re in the trenches, it can feel like there is no way out. The only thing I’ve ever found to be helpful is to be REALLY honest about just how hard things are, and hope that other parents will be generous and honest about their realities too.
What helps when you feel like you’re in the thick of it? How are things going for you right now? Let us know in the comments.
Comments