Mums confess: “Parenting is so not what I thought it would be”
If you have ever wanted to slap your younger self in the face because motherhood is so not what you thought it was going to be, know that you are not alone.
A mum, who confessed that before she had her baby, she had “all these great ideas” has taken to Mumsnet to ask other parents if parenting is what they thought it would be. And the responses are as hilarious as they are revealing.
Not living the dream
“I follow various parenting social media accounts,” begins the mum.
“It’s sad to see mothers/parents who look dejected, as their children have played on their last nerve or things haven’t gone as expected, deviating from the dreamlike parent routine is a failure of sorts.”
“I think we as parents should be more … accepting that parenting isn’t always a dream, with times when baby/toddler/child or teenager does not act like the angelic little cherub you expected,” she continues.
And right now, every parent everywhere is nodding their heads.
This is not what we signed up for!
In some ways, parenthood is way better than we’d hoped, but in others, it’s much, much harder, self-sacrificial and sanity-sapping than we ever imagined.
Bursting the bubble, in a nice way
The mum goes on to acknowledge that different stages of parenting has its, “own quirks” – quirks, now that’s a nice understatement!
“I think from time to time it’s good to have a reminder that parenting is seldom how you expected. Some expectations you have/had about parenting, totally go out of the window,” she says, before asking:
“Is there anything you would pass on to those who are entering the world of parenting at all? Or for the parent who is really struggling?”
Yes, yes there is
In answer to her question, users had a wealth of advice for new parents, such as:
“Don’t read books. The baby hasn’t read the book. They just set unrealistic expectations. And it’s okay to moan.”
Hear, hear.
Expectation meets reality
Then users confessed their own parenting reality bites realisations.
“I thought it would all be smocked tops and building sandcastles with cute little blue-eyed blond children. Like f**k was it,” laughs one, clearly referring to insta-mum idealism.
“I expected it to be hard, but the word ‘relentless’ is how I’d describe it,” shares another.
“I think I expected parenthood to be hard, it’s probably been harder but also more enjoyable. Highs are higher and lows are lower,” muses one.
“I struggle with the lack of gratitude. I’ve never done so much for anyone else that has been met with utter disgust 😂,” writes one fed up mum.
Then, this mum nails it:
“Well I was an absolutely perfect mother … until I actually became one 😏”
And there it is.
Yep, motherhood is definitely not what many of us expected. But, considering it’s the most important job on Earth, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
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