Kids change everything. This is one of the most obvious sentences ever spoken, heard, written or read. This seems to be the one phrase most people can agree upon and the one phrase that is most often given when people find out you are expecting. You will hear that sleepless nights are in your future, eating out will become a challenge, seeing old friends is a rarity and yes let us not forget the DIAPERS.
With this being said, there are so many things that you are not told. No one will warn you about potty training, bed training, playing with poop (yes this does actually happen!), cleaning up all bodily functions that are emitted (even if you have a weak stomach), the frustration one moment and pure joy and happiness the next - the roller coaster that we call parenthood.
Life’s previous schedule may have included work, gym, lounge, bar, sleep.
Now life is dictated by little monsters that barely come up to your knees. Days are spent playing hide and go seek, reading books, watching Dora, making sure you are home in time for naps, changing diapers, going on play dates, and cleaning up other people's messes.
Weekends now revolve around what the kids want to do. Going to pumpkin patches, the zoo, children's museum, the playground. With all of this change one thing may be discovered...you may find that you really enjoy these things as well.
Once you have kids and get to experience things with them, through their eyes, it is if you are a child again yourself. The first time they see Santa, or a Disney Princess. The first time they play in the snow or ride a carousel. Christmas morning and birthday parties. You get to experience these all again, as if it was your first time, just seeing it through their eyes.
Kids change everything. They may make you more responsible. More paranoid. More forgiving. More nurturing. Less selfish.
It is hard to tell someone what to expect when they are having a child. Everyone’s experiences are different. Every kid is different. The one thing they all have in common though - kids change everything.
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