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| Thursday, December 23, 2010 03:57 PM |
| (Last updated on Thursday, December 23, 2010 05:19 PM) | | Parenting: What I've Learned So Far |
 by Fëanor |
#1 Rule: if the baby is calm, then whatever he is doing, as long as it is not likely to kill or permanently injure himself or others, let him keep doing it. That includes if he's sleeping on your arm in a really uncomfortable position, if he's hitting you in the face with a bat, etc.
If baby is upset, there are really only a handful of things that could be wrong: his diaper is full, he's tired, he's hungry, he's gassy, he's sick. Later on you can add to this list: he's bored, he's teething. Go down the list one at a time and check/resolve each issue until he's not upset anymore. If you hit the end and he's still upset and you're still not sure what's wrong, start again at the beginning.
It's annoying, but inescapable: all of the cliches are true. Parenting is ridiculously difficult and frustrating and tiring, and incredibly rewarding and life-changing, and blah blah blah. You will love that child more than you have loved anyone or anything in your life - more than you even believed it was possible to love another human being. And he will annoy the living crap out of you. If it became necessary to die for that child, you would do it in a heartbeat, without even thinking about it. You will also consider killing him rather frequently.
I have absolutely no idea how single parents stay sane and alive, and keep their children alive. I salute them.
UPDATE: 8 nonconsecutive hours of sleep is not even close to being the same as 8 consecutive hours of sleep.
When you become a parent, you discover that you used to have enormous amounts of free time and expendable income, now no longer available to you. You also essentially lose one arm, and have to learn how to perform many tasks one-handed. |
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