Today, a list of things that surprised me about parenting:
1) Before I had children, I always imagined that my children would be exactly like me.
2) Once I had the amnio/CVS that determined that my children were “perfect”, I thought I was out of the woods.
3) I thought parenting would get way easier once the kids were out of diapers. (Actually, I still have one in diapers, so I’m still holding out a bit of hope on this one, but not much.)
4) I thought that if a child had a natural talent for something, they would automatically like it and stick with it.
5) I thought it was impossible to clean up someone else’s puke without actually puking myself.
6) I thought there was a direct correlation between good parenting and having calm, well-behaved children.
7) I thought parents loved each of their children in exactly the same way. (And I didn’t realize that loving them differently is a completely different thing from loving one more than the others.)
I had no idea that sibling rivalry is hard-wired, and doesn’t have anything to do with how much siblings like or love each other.
9) I thought that girls liked dolls and boys liked balls.
10) I thought that I’d be my children’s best teacher.
Boy, was I wrong…
