Time has a way of changing when you become a parent. The minutes tick by slowly but the years fly by in a flash. Time seems to move at glacial speed when your child is sick or misbehaving or when you have a stretch of rainy days and the dreaded boredom kicks in. The hard moments feels like they’ll never end. But then one day you look back and realize your baby is 4 or 10 or even 20!
Then again this contradiction is indicative of parenthood. You want to spend every minute soaking up your child, but you can’t wait to get an afternoon or a night away. You strive to raise an independent, self-sufficient human being, but it hurts to let him go off on his own. You push him to experience all the world has to offer, but you need to protect him from all the bad things, even though you know you can’t. You show him unconditional love, but also have to be a disciplinarian.
You love your child more than you thought humanely possible (that’s the easy part), but being a good parent is really, really, really hard. You make mistakes, and by doing so you become a better parent. But no matter how long you are a parent, there is always some new challenge to be tackled.
Parenting is messy and impossible and beautiful. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done!
What are your worst and best parenting moments?
