Ask any parent and they'll tell you the same thing, it's worth it. The dark moments of sleepless nights, financial insecurities and the not so serious but still extremely annoying sticky chocolate stains are overshadowed by laughs that originate from the stomach, the word DADA being screamed as they launch themselves into their blow up pool and the ecstatic look on their faces as you open a much anticipated chocolate, which of course brings you back to the not so serious but still extremely annoying sticky chocolate stains. It's a cycle.
The amusing thing is that as parents we love to be the experts, but the truth is that we are constantly learning and adapting. As much as we are the teachers of life, we could learn a thing or two from them. A prime example is time. While rushing one morning to prepare myself as well as my one year old for school, I fumbled over bags as I filled them with the necessities, tripped over a Barney Teddy Bear, ran to stop her from emptying the cat's food bowl and just managed to get us both outside and looking semi decent. My main objective was to get us to the car and get us moving as quickly as possible but as we walked she stopped to look at a flower. By this stage my patience levels had dwindled and as I was about to shout "Come on, let's go" I stopped to see her smelling a daisy with an incomplete toothy grin. It gave a whole new meaning to the phrase stop and smell the roses. We took a full five minutes to enjoy the flower vibe and my day was better for it.
We also learn the importance of just being silly. Ive lost count on how many times an adult has walked past me as I am pulling a funny face or making a funny sound. I've even been caught doing the chicken dance and I've never laughed as hard as that day. It's about entertainment for them and the more you make yourself look like a dork the better and the funnier.
When you are in a relationship with a loving partner learning the ways of parenting together, it makes it even more unique and special. As the two of you leopard crawl out of your child's room together after spending the last half an hour trying to get them to sleep, you'll laugh, in fact, you'll snigger silently as you try and get to the couch. An unspoken rivalry will form when your child says their first word, one person praying for DADA and the other for MAMA. And when it happens and if the moment favors you, you'll find yourself screaming, "Yes!!! HAHA!! I'm the favorite!" and doing a glorious victory dance, while looking like a complete fool.
As hard as it can be, raising a child has so many joys that will put millions of smiles on your face as time goes by. Someone asked me "Can you imagine your life without her?" and my answer was an unequivocal "Absolutely not!".
