Doomsday Parents

Matthew 6:34 NIV: Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

It starts the moment people hear you are pregnant!

How far along are you?

My morning sickness never went away.

Enjoy your sleep now because you'll never get any again.

Then, you’ll read in your dog-eared pregnancy book about all the no-nos:

You can’t take hot baths, eat sushi, or ride a roller coaster….or stuff like that. 

When you get a bit further along, the birth stories will come. 

I was in labor for 48 hours.

I pushed for 4 hours and then I had to have an emergency c-section.

And then you have the baby.

As you watch your toddler toddle, someone will remark, Just wait until s/he starts running!

When they turn two, you’ll hear how the terrible twos are nothing, it’s really the threes that are terrible.  When they turn three, you'll hear about the fearsome, ferocious fours…and so one. You may have a more experienced parent remark that the toddler years are nothing compared to the teenage years. 

And, they might be right!

And, they might be wrong!

Because one size doesn’t fit all. 

When I had one child, I had parents tell me that they were never late when they had one but with two, they were always late.

And, people told me, when you have two, you’ll do this and that differently.

Yes, having two is definitely different.  But I’m not a completely different parent and I’m also not late all the time now that I have two.  

But, it got me to thinking:  Why is everything having to do with parenting so Debbie Downer?

Why do some people think their experience has to be everyone else’s experience?

Why do some people act like having kids is the end of the world?

Tweet this: Life isn't over when you have kids. It's just different.  http://ctt.ec/3GZcq

I’m not saying you shouldn’t share your experiences or you should sugar-coat things.  After all, blogging is all about sharing your personal experiences and ideas.  And, if you’re pregnant and looking at mommy blogs, you’ll likely to stumble upon stories about sleepless third trimesters, epidural horror stories, and birth plans that went astray.   

Yes, it happens!

Yet, if I come across a pregnant woman in the store, a stranger, I’m not going to launch into a story about how both my babies stayed in the NICU, how I had granulation tissue that didn’t heal for six months after my second, and how my son had a spinal tap when he was four days old.  

I’m also not going to gush about how being a parent is all sunshine and butterflies.  Because it isn’t….at least for me.  

In fact, I’m probably not going to say much at all….because everyone has different experiences.

My kids might be really difficult as teenagers.  I don’t know...and I don’t care because right now I’m enjoying and experiencing the stage they are in.  I’m not going to project what they are going to be like in five, six, seven or eight years.   

I’m just going to take it day by day and not worry about what may or may not happen tomorrow.

Life isn't over when you have kids. It's just different. 

What do you think? Do you know some doomsday parents?