Expectation vs Reality

When we become parents we always have our expectations of how it should go. From experience, it never goes how we plan and that’s ok! Parenting is hard. There’s bumps along the way and we need to embrace all the chaos the comes with it.

New Born Stage

I feel like when we give birth we expect to be completely enamored with our babies and for many women that isn’t the case. Postpartum is a real thing that affects women everywhere. It doesn’t make you a bad mother. We expect to be so full of joy when the reality is, yes, we are happy, but we are also running on a couple hours of sleep a night, our bodies are going through a major transition and we’re just trying to keep it together most days.

Keeping Up With Household Chores

When we become parents we expect to have a picture perfect home. That’s almost never the case. Kids are throwing toys around everywhere, there’s dishes in the sink and there seems to be a never ending to do list. Having a spotless home all the time is unrealistic when you have kids. They’re going to be messy, they’re going to play, you’re going to get behind and that’s ok. You need to forgive yourself for not being perfect because the reality is, no one is.

Well Behaved Children

We expect we’re going to have to most beautiful angels all the time. They would never embarrass us in the middle of the grocery store like you’ve seen so many other children do to their parents. Yeah, sorry to break it to you but that’s not going to happen. They will throw temper tantrums. They will embarrass you. I literally had a woman hand me a $20 bill in Wal-Mart one time because my son was throwing a tantrum and she thought I deserved to go get myself a coffee after we left. I was humiliated, but that’s just what having kids is like sometimes. They’re tiny little humans with big feelings they are figuring out how to navigate.

You Will Always Keep Your Cool

Guess what! We’re human too. We aren’t always going to keep our cool and we will likely have mental break downs as well. That’s normal. Whenever I react in a way I’m not proud of I take accountability and apologize. Just remind your kids you’re human and make mistakes sometimes.

Parenthood is a wild ride. It’s also the most rewarding thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. Remember that no one is perfect and no one expects you to be and you’ll be just fine.

Cheers,

<3 Bri