12 Things That Have Surprised Me (Us) About Parenthood

For this week's Tuesday Ten, we got a little wiggle room with our topic. We asked everyone to fill in the blank for "10 Things That Have Surprised Me About __________." I knew right away that I wanted to put "parenthood" in that blank, but when the time came to write my list, I came up empty. I pondered changing to marriage, being a stay at home mom, and having daughters, but nothing seemed quite right. So, I went to Facebook and asked my friends to tell me about the one thing that has surprised them most about being a parent. They did not disappoint me!! I got responses from "veteran" moms as well as moms with children much younger than mine. They all had some great answers and I couldn't agree more. In fact, their answers were so good, I couldn't just stop at 10!

1. How well we can function on so little sleep. (from Towa)
2. How hard it is to balance everything - career vs. staying at home. You really can't have it all. (from Rebecca)
3. What an emotional roller coaster it is. One minute they make you so angry and frustrated, but the next minute you are hugging them and praying for them because you love them so much. (from Amy and Lisa)
4. How many thing we cannot control. (from Angela)
5. How messy it is. (from David J. - kind of)
6. The number of times we had to change our perspective on all the things we said we would never do as parents. (from Leah) 
7. How we overcome our own fears for the sake of their protection and betterment. (from Kenya)
8. How harshly our parenting is judged by others. (from C Lee)
9. How fast it goes. People tell you that, but you don't really understand until you are a parent yourself. (from Kathy)
   You don't really understand until you are a parent yourself. #TuesdayTen @TheGoldenSpoons
10. How readily and fiercely we fight for them when we need to - even when that's not usually in our nature. (from Margaret)
11. The way in which we lost friends but also gained new ones when we became parents and how much we (sometimes) miss our "old" life. (from Jeannette and NJ)
12. How intensely we feel it too when they are hurt, sick, scared,or sad. (from Becki and Kathryn)

And, one final thought from me: How intensely you can love another human being. Of course, I love my parents, my brother, my friends, my husband. Having a child, however, is a different kind of love from anything I have ever known and something I don't think anyone can truly understand until you have felt it yourself. 

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Come link up again next Tuesday, August 4 and tell us about 10 trends form the past you would like to see make a comeback (or not!).

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