You’re Never Truly Alone - Finding Humor In The Chaos of Raising Kids
As a parent, it can often feel like your days are a blur of craziness punctuated with moments of intense love for your kids. However, any parent will tell you that not everything is roses and rainbows when it comes to raising tiny humans.
We have compiled some stories from parents to share for when you need a laugh or some validation that you are, in fact, not alone in this. Parenting is one of the toughest jobs out there, and we’re all just doing the best we can from day to day, moment to moment sometimes!
Everybody Does It… Especially Babies!
“We were out of town staying in a hotel while I was at a training for work. My sweet boy was 3 months old, and as far as 3 month old babies go he was the best. Slept like a champ, ate like a champ, pooped like a demon. We were sitting in the hotel room and all the sudden he had a blow out that went all the way up to the back of his head. I learned that hotel bar soap does a pretty good job getting the mess out of a onesie!” - EG, Facebook
“When my son was around 6 or 7 months old, we were all getting over some sort of stomach bug in our house and he’d had some gnarly poops. While changing him, he let it rip, and once I had the diaper off he loosed the cannon. Imagine you turned a high pressure hose on. The wall, the dresser, the ceiling - EVERYTHING was covered. I was trying not to scream in horror, which became one of those mom laughs that you use not to freak out, which in turn made my son laugh, and before long we were both cracking up. It was truly impressive, and now is a hilarious story I can’t wait to tell his partners when he brings them home to meet us!” - CM, Facebook
“We were potty training our oldest and he was out of sight for a few minutes while we played together outside. Eventually he came back around the side of the house to the backyard from the front, smiling ear to ear. He proudly announced he had gone potty all by himself. On the front lawn. We live on a well traveled road and our house is only about 20 feet from the curb. Apparently, he likes to do his business with an audience, as there were definitely at least 10-20 cars that went by in that time!” - JM, Instagram
Kids Love To Explore Their World…
“I went out one evening to skim our pool, and found that an entire box of spaghetti noodles had been emptied into the pool by my 5 year old. They had obviously been in there for a while, as they had expanded and started to disintegrate. It was a giant mess. When I asked him why he did it, he told me he wanted to feel them on his toes.” - KZ, Facebook
“I was upstairs prepping dinner and talking to a friend before needing to leave to pick up my oldest from school. I could hear my younger boys laughing and giggling downstairs, and even said to my friend “they’re laughing and playing so nicely, I hate having to make them stop to sit in the car and pick up their brother.” I hung up the phone and started the process every parent knows too well of corralling their kids into the car, calling to my kids as I walked down the stairs. I expected them to be coloring or playing with toys… nope. Instead they were squeezing bottles of water up to the ceiling “making rain”. The carpet was so soaked it literally splashed when they would jump. I didn’t have time to clean it up, so I just put them in the car and told them to pretend to be asleep until they fell asleep because I was so mad.” - KS, Instagram
… Or Tell You Exactly What They Think
“I was putting my 5 year old to bed, a rare occurrence because she usually wants her dad to put her to bed. When I told her how happy I was to come read her a book and put her to bed, she looked at me with her big, blue eyes and her sweet face and said “Yeah. It’s because you’re squishier than Daddy.” She’s lucky she’s cute…” - SS, Facebook
“My toddler told every person she saw in the grocery store one time that “Mommy’s pee pee is broken” because we’d just picked up my medication for UTI at the pharmacy.” - MK, Twitter
Sometimes They’re Tricky To Keep Track Of…
“I shut down an entire WalMart super center because I was practicing being a spy and my parents couldn’t find me. I was a leash kid after that. Full on leash backpack for years.” CV, Twitter
“My daughter got mad at me and “ran away” one day. She packed a bag, left the house, and made it to the end of the driveway. She then texted me asking if I would bring her a snack.” HH, Twitter
“My son thought it would be funny to play hide and seek while we were shopping, and hid in one of the circular clothing racks at a store we were in. Problem is he didn’t tell me we were playing, so when I turned around to ask him something and he was gone I panicked. After a few frantic minutes calling his name and desperately asking the sales clerks to help me look for him, he jumped out of the rack and scared me. I nearly peed myself in the store! I was so embarrassed - needless to say we left immediately without buying anything and I haven’t been back since.” DI, Facebook
But They Always Seem To Pull You Back From The Brink Just In Time!
“I’m a teacher and I have a first grade student who has claimed me as his own. When a coworker came into my classroom and told me that I looked terrible and sounded worse while recovering from a cold, he stood up from his desk where he was “reading” and told her that wasn’t nice and she should apologize. I didn’t have to say a word - my little buddy handled it for me. It was so sweet.” DR, Facebook
“Have you ever been so close to a breakdown because your kiddo won’t settle or go to sleep or listen or put their shoes on or whatever it is that they’re fighting you on? And then they just turn around and give you that little kid kiss on your cheek and you’re like - okay, you get to live another day.” -TH, Facebook
No matter what happens, know that you’re not alone in the wild world of parenting, and that your doulas here at Beautiful Births and Beyond are ready to help support you in any way they can!
Leave your own stories in the comments - we’d love to hear from you!
