A lot of stories and books have been written about parenting, but none of them prepared me for some of the things I experienced which caught me off-guard.
The many ups and downs that accompany parenting are what most mothers are familiar with, words cannot just explain some things, they are better experienced and here are some of the things people don’t tell you about parenting.
1. Babies know things
Not everything but some things. Have you noticed? When you are looking for something or you are in a rush, when you are anxious or late to get somewhere, they know so they’ll wait, looking right and left as you are running around the house, and when they are tired of waiting or think they don’t have time for your “serenren”, they’ll start crying loudly as if to say “mommy, answer me now” And when they are still breastfeeding, they sneak food into their nappy and if not, how else do you explain the groundnut inside their nappy?
2. Memory Loss
Don’t tell me you are excluded because that would be a fat-face lie. Baby brain is common to most mothers and what people don’t tell you is that it gets worse with every child. Then you begin to forget the things you say and deny them, you put things somewhere and look for them somewhere else, you tie your scarf and then you ask your first born “where is my scarf?” Then she’ll look at you as if you have lost it. You say “Chi chi emm …I mean emm… Mike” Ask me how did Chi Chi and Mike correlate? You didn’t know who to call? Or you forgot their names?
3. Very Odd Conversations in Odd Places
People just love stories, and if you bump into your friend shortly after giving birth, they’ll say something about your birth, then you would be forced to launch into a story of how you gave birth, how you were very brave, then you would add salt and pepper to your story to make it interesting and make you a heroine. As in ehn..
3. You will turn into your mother AND father
I didn’t know when it started, I mean I’ve always vowed that I won’t do my parent’s parenting style and so far I’ve been doing a good job. The moment I knew I was turning into my mom was when I used the phrase “See your head like ball, all you know is eat.” That wasn’t bad, so I didn’t freak out, but when I went to a party and I did my dad’s dance, I was so into the dancing, I forgot myself. And I wonder, will I start on such phrases like “See my dear, during our time….?” Arrgh!
4. Forget the books
Let me tell you a secret, in parenting, you can’t follow the rules to the letter, there are many books out there, and if you’re a reader I’ll say congratulations. But if you are knocking yourself out because you aren’t able to follow all the rules, then stop worrying your cute little head and instead go with the flow. Each of your children are different, one of mine latched on easily and others didn’t, others slept, one didn’t. And do you wonder why our mothers say we slept through the night? Because baby-brain has kicked in, they’ve forgotten.
5. Huge panties are really important
There is a lot to hold in after having a baby, of course, you’ve increased everywhere. So don’t just buy big panties, buy gigantic ones that you’d be able to pack every of the extra fold in. It’s better you have the extra folds in than out.
Parenting is tough, but it feels good too. There are moments when you feel like the whole world is beneath you, and the times when you feel like crap, remember the good times and let it inspire you. The above are what they don’t tell you about parenting. And if you haven’t heard or read this before, now you know.
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