Things they never told me about motherhood. This should be the title of my next (ok, first) parenting humor book. Everyone tells you how your life will change, it will never be the same, you don’t know love until you have a child. All of these things are true, but someone needed to shed some light on the things they don’t tell you about motherhood. Check out these things I learned.
Related: Things I Never Worried About Before Becoming A Mom
Things they never tell you about motherhood
You will never use the bathroom alone again
For real. I am not sure what it is about trying to go to the bathroom that my daughter find is the most opportune time to ask me to braid her hair, but it never fails. At the moment, there is a gate up blocking the area where our bedrooms and bathroom are, so thankfully my son hasn’t learned how to climb it yet, but he will stand at the gate and yell for me. But as soon as I leave the bathroom he wants nothing to do with me. I swear, if you need your kid’s attention, go to the bathroom, they will follow you!
You will second guess yourself all the time
This is something I wish someone had told me. I question myself daily as a mom. No one has the right answer, everyone is different, and every family is different. Am I doing a good job? Am I raising a respectful human being? Is what I just said in the heat of the moment going to scar her for life? Cereal is a major food group, right? A very wise woman once told me that only the best moms question themselves all the time. Keep doing what you are doing.
You will keep every little drawing
At first anyways. When my daughter started using crayons and paper and making lines and scribbles, I was so excited! I kept everything, for a while. Then you realize that you are just creating a fire hazard in your home. I decided to clean house and take photos of her work from now on. I keep some stuff, but for most of it, I take a picture, and then I toss it (without her knowing of course). I have big plans to make a photo album of all the artwork she has created over the years. If not, at least I have the snapshots.
You will be sleep deprived forever
Oh my dear fellow mom, this is not just during the newborn years. You will find yourself staying up late to enjoy some quiet time, and you will find yourself wanting to get up before everyone, so at least one of your cups of coffee is still hot (this is one I have yet to master). It is like you are always sleeping with one eye open. It does not change once they can walk and talk, then they walk into your room in the dark of night and stand right above you, staring at you until you open your eyes so they can tell you they had a bad dream and wanted to crawl in bed with you. I won’t even get into the teen years when they have a curfew. Wave the white flag on sleep. You can sleep when you see your own kids having kids. Karma.
You will lie to your children
You will tell little white lies to get them to do things (or to avoid certain situations). I wanted my daughter to try fish. Now if I had told her it was fish, she wouldn’t have even sat down at the table. To her, it is chicken. It tasted different than the chicken she was used to, but she liked this new chicken. One day I will break the bad news and let her know she likes fish. When we would drive past her favorite fast food place at dark, and she would ask if we could go, I would say, ‘No baby they are closed right now’ to which she would say, ‘But the lights are on, so they must be open.’ Oh, my sweet, smart little girl, ‘They leave the lights on, so no one will go in and steal things, it makes it look like someone is there’. Hook line and sinker. You may disagree, but I just avoided a meltdown like a pro.
Someone needs to write a handbook for new moms, and then a sequel for those of us who choose to have more of those small humans running around our house, preventing us from having just one cup of hot coffee. One thing they do tell you, but is incomprehensible until you actually have children, is how much love you have for another human being. It is the reason drinking cold coffee and peeing with an audience becomes ok.
LOL! It’s so true! everything you’ve written is true!
The things you listed as so true. No one ever tells you these things before you have kids.
What a fun read! Everything you wrote is so true! Motherhood is amazing, though :)
This one really hits home “You will be sleep deprived forever”. The struggle is for real.
lol I remember telling my daughter the park was closed once, hahaha
oh boy… yep, they do never tell you you’re going to do that. ;)
Hahaha, this is so funny. My wife keeps complaining that she never go alone the bathroom when our son is about the age of 2.
I love most of these things, but literally, all are correct! Salute to all moms!
Amen to all these.My boy is already a teen and I’m sleep deprived more than ever!
I can definitely relate to these. I still can’t use the bathroom alone most of the times. I agree about being sleep deprived too. My girls don’t even take naps anymore, and I wish they would. I get so tired by the end of the night.
It is so true that you can never go to the bathroom alone, even when you’re home, but being out in public with your child and having to use the restroom is even more difficult. Another thing I learned is that kids will try to eat the most random things.
I’m a second time mom now and I found that just the act of adding a second child teaches you a whole new set of lessons that no one warns you about.
I probably have one on your list…haha! Maybe 2! LOL! There are tons of things that I did not know about motherhood. One of them is having the feelings of guilt all the time. You always want to be the best Mom you can be, but it’s really a learning as you go process.
There are a lot of things that I learned when I became a mother, including all of these. It’s a fun job but you’re bound to hate it from time to time. Who knew my patience could be that long. Lol.
I think one thing I find interesting is how you will do somethings like your parents and others completely different. You have to find your own way while learning from others.
Oh what a great post and these are so true, at least they were for me. I was sleep deprived until they all married and moved away from home lol.
So true! Great post topic!! I may have to write my own!
I have definitely learned a thing or two about parenting that I wish I knew beforehand.
I knew about the lies = I mean isn’t Santa a big fat lie? LOL. This was fun to read.