Parents who love luv wub wuve wuv their babies will tell the world how adorable their baby is. How they are clueless as to how they ever got to enjoy life & baby making before their adorable little alarm clock was born.
Babies, well, most babies are so cute. Their birth totally changes their parents. Nursing mothers can sometimes feel that junior is sucking their brains, blood & energy out through their milk makers.
Mommy hopes the napping stage takes a year or five to dissipate. Daddy just wants more sleep than they have ever wanted before or at least more nights of sleeping all night than the interrupted ones.
~ This baby is lucky to be so darn cute.
~ Before 5 am, he/she is your baby.
~ Can we teach him/her to make their own breakfast
~ Let's just keep the baby in bed with us so we can stay in bed all night.
~ This must be revenge wished on me by my mom/dad/parents.
~ I love my child. I love my child. My child is so cute
(cutest when sleeping soundly for at least 6 hours)
~ First Christmas? I'm broke from buying everything else.
~ The baby has been sleeping so long, all is well, I hope!
This stage only lasts so long. Shorter for some, longer for others.
The first baby is often the costliest.
Their needs are so drastically different from the needs of mom & dad. They are so new that their baby skin is so tender. A detergent that's fine for mommy & daddy can irritate a baby's skin. The slightest bit of irritation can turn a happy baby into a red faced, howling boss baby! A slight diaper rash or a nappy that is too tight. The boss must be happy if everyone in the house is to be happy.
AKA Be quiet or babysit.
As your darling little alarm clocks time rolls, crawls, walks then runs forward. Their needs are continually changing. The first couple years since birth are the real test of financial preparedness, patience, relationship strength etc. Parents get a slight reprieve soon after their child learns to use the toilet during the day. A true test of many parents is when the child also learns to get up to go to the toilet if awakened by a call of nature during the night.
I could expound on this so much.
Eventually your progeny(ies) will be able to walk, talk, go to school, become so educated academically or otherwise. They will begin to believe they know more than their parents.
Before that, your darling will view you like a wealthy one with nearly unlimited resources. They are like a broke little friend who depends on you, trusts you, takes heed from your words to them.
At times, your child, as they grow into the teenage years. A wonderful cocktail of hormone surges, voracious appetites that are often sated by fast food or junk food.
Franken food for monsters.
As a parent you may see the glimpses of the little baby along with the promise of a bright future they are headed for.
Live with them in the moment, if they are in a mood to talk to you other than asking for money or stuff, drop whatever you're doing, within reason of course.
It's one of those rare times that you may long for in later years.
Then there's the briefer mostly one-sided conversations.
~Why did you even have me.
Right or wrong, I try to smooth it over with humor.
~ I didn't know it would be you, I hoped for someone with a job.
Ridiculous answer to an impertinent question.
~ Did I ask to be born. No, I didn't.
~ It would have been H - E - double hockey sticks for your mother if you just stayed in there.
Then, there's parental peer pressure.
~ My friends parents let them play video games all night & let them stay home from school if they are too tired.
Now, it was time to give a softer approach.
~ If you're going to go & live with them, I would miss you forever, cry for months.
~ Really, just months?
~ Yes. At least 36.
~Aww, I'm good, I'll stay.
~ I'm so glad, now, please go clean your room.
If you have taught your child life skills, they will either go out into the world, move out on their own.
Or
They will remain in the nest, make quite good cooks, home cleaners, company that you enjoy whom you can usually trust.
In time, when your child may become of adult age, living in their own domicile, making a fair wage. You will sometimes hear from them less & less, seeing them even less often than once per year. They may have their own money, maybe a spouse, a couple kidlets of their own.
They don't actually need you for much.
In some instances, your child might get offended by things you do or say which you have done or said since the day they were born. All of a sudden, you, as their parent are wrong & offensive.
The win - win version is that you can be yourself, you can talk with your former "alarm clock" except there's less alarm. You can have that beautiful, comfortable give and take with someone you have lifelong history with. Sometimes it happens naturally as you both grow, change, mature, realize that time is a sea that can sometimes be rough, sometimes smooth.
It's how we adjust our sails that determines the journey.
