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?
Awww, I love this post. It is so true.
My worst parenting moment was when Q was three years old. It was New Year’s Eve 1999 and everyone was all concerned about whether or not the Y2K bug would occur that night.
Anyhow, My sick toddler ended up having a febrile seizure from the rapid rise of a fever. I never knew this was even possible and had no idea what was happening. I can still picture him letting out this strange moan. I turned around and his eyes rolled back into his head. His skin turned gray and then he fell back down on the pillow unconscious.
I thought he was dead.
I scooped him into my arms and called 911 and remember carrying my unconscious little boy in my arms while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. The firemen arrived at our house first and they were so awesome. They calmed my shattered nerves and brought him out to the ambulance. Q woke up on the ride to the hospital and threw up all over me. I’ve never been so happy to be puked on in my life.
There are a lot of “best moments” but the one that stands out is when he won his huge scholarship for University. *grin*
Thanks for sharing, Tammy! What a trying experience. Those fevers can be so scary. About the happy to be puked on…it’s amazing the things that you’d never thought you’d say until you were a parent, right!?
Boy do you echo my feelings, Katie. My kids are teenagers now and time is FLYING even faster than when they were toddlers. I crave the easy pace of life back then. So many small moments to celebrate. Actually, even now, it’s still the same. Dinnertime, driving together, decorating the tree! But oh how they hate it when we curtail their freedom. However, it comes with responsibility, so yeah, we have some ugly moments when we have to discipline. But I’ll say this … being a mother is the BEST. I wouldn’t trade it in the world for anything.
You’ve given me a glimpse into the future, Vijaya. I’m glad the small moments don’t go away as they get older. And, yes, being a mother is the BEST!