30 things we didn’t know before having kids

We’re all experts at parenting, before we have kids. But once you actually become a parent, the rules of the game change. And it’s actually a little bit shocking how much really important stuff we didn’t know – who knew that washing your hair would feel like such a luxury?!

So what are some of the things you didn’t know pre-kids?

We turned this question to the Babyology community. And we were floored by the level of hilarious honesty and heart-melting accuracy in your answers. Come and share these pearls of wisdom from our wonderful community of mums.

1. That shaving my legs was only for special occasions.
2. How awesome baby wipes are for cleaning, like anything and everything!
3. How exhausted I’d be.
4. How much I would miss going to the bathroom by myself!
5. That I’d be walking around with someone else’s bodily fluids constantly on me and not give a damn.
6. That I would be sitting at the dinner table pretending to eat like a dinosaur because the kidlet only eats mini trees that way (sorry, I meant broccoli).
7. That I would have to hide in the pantry to have a “sometimes food” so I don’t have to share.
8. That it’s possible to do pretty much everything one-handed while holding a baby and having a toddler wrapped around my leg.
9. That you can pretty much pick up anything with your feet.
10. That you feel relief when your baby poops.
11. That showers are the best ‘me’ time.
12. That breast milk has magical powers.
13. That having a baby is one of the greatest feelings you’ll ever experience.
14. That is it okay to trust myself and ignore people.
15. How much I would worry about someone else’s poop.
16. How frustrating teething is.
17. How it’s possible to love a type of food one day and then hate it the next.
18. How easy everything was before a baby! Just getting in and out of the car is a task now.
19. How much silence would scare me day or night!
20. How hard it is to get Weet-Bix off a bowl if it isn’t rinsed straight away.
21. How much I under-appreciated food or my ability to eat a meal without having to share everything I eat with two other humans.
22. That Twinkle Twinkle Little Star had more than one verse!
23. How quickly they grow.
24. That I would be driving the car making cow sounds because it was the only way my son wouldn’t cry when he was a baby.
25. That I’d congratulate someone for burping.
26. How loud chocolate wrappers are! You can yell out a child’s name and they don’t hear you. But you pull on a chocolate wrapper and they all come running.
27. Why my parents drank alcohol….
28. How much I would think, care, worry about another person every second of the day, even when with them.
29. How much my own parents sacrificed to give us the life we had growing up.
30. What true love really feels like.

It’s amazing just how much our children teach us each and every day, often without even realising it. From lessons in unconditional love to rules in rinsing dishes, there’s a lesson in even the most mundane parenting experience.