Before you venture into parenthood here are five things you should do:
Top Up the Sleep Bank
You never really know ‘tired’ until you have a baby in the house. So, before you become a parent make the most of those lazy Sunday mornings. Have breakfast in bed. Top up that sleep bank to get yourself through those first few months as new parents; with a newborn you just never know when you will sleep again.
Go See the World
Or at least get a few bucket list trips ticked off. When you pack for a holiday with a baby or a toddler in tow, you realize how small your car trunk is. Travel cot. High chair. Bottles. Steriliser. A pram. Five changes of clothes per day for the baby and at least two for yourself. It soon fills that car up.
And flying with a baby or toddler? Don’t go there. Entertaining a hungry, cranky, bored toddler waiting for an overdue flight shouldn’t be on any sane person’s wish list.
So, before you embark on your parenting journey, get out and see the world.
Leave the Parenting Books on the Shelf
Fight the urge to read every parenting book you can get your eager little hands on before junior arrives. Each piece of advice in parenting books contradicts each other and will only confuse, upset and mystify you.
Once you are a parent, you will come to understand your own parenting style. That’s the time to read up.
Read
Having said ditch the parenting books I’m now telling you to take the time to read. But I mean other reading material, the fun stuff.
Grab those classics on your reading bucket list. Make the most of magazine subscriptions. Make your library card work hard for you.
Just sit and read. Enjoy the peace before a baby arrives. Relax. After the birth, you probably won’t pick up a non-parenting book for a while.
Prepare for Life to Change Forever
Before you become parents it’s hard to imagine exactly how life will change. Let me spell it out: once you become a parent nothing in your life is ever the same again.
Your living room becomes a toy storage area. Your bathroom houses potties and toilet training seats. The floor of your dining area, despite constant cleaning, looks like a spontaneous food fight just broke out. Your garden is littered with plastic houses, slides and every size ball you can imagine. Your garden flowers bloom beautifully but briefly before they are plucked by tiny chubby hands.
However, the biggest change to life does not happen inside your home. It happens inside you.
The instant you become a parent your heart brims with unconditional love. There is no explaining where this overwhelming love comes from; it is all-consuming. It is life changing.
Parenting makes life better. So much better. Even without sleep and spontaneous traveling and being able to read when you want. Because you have a little hand to hold, a little person to lead through life. Because you are somebody’s parent.
Welcome to parenthood. Life will never be the same again.
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