For those of you who are waiting to make it through the stage where your kid doesn’t sleep through the night,
or the playing-in-the-toilet phase,
or the potty training phase,
or the saying-no-to-everything-you-ask-her-to-do phase,
I have a little newsflash for you.
It doesn’t get easier.
In fact, it gets harder.
Yes, it’s exhausting to get up multiple times during the night, or to answer the Why? question for the 164th time in an hour.
Changing diapers sucks and waiting twelve minutes for your three-year-old to do it myself is really fucking annoying, too.
But, on the other hand, when they are little, you still have some control.
You know what they are doing.
You know where they are, who they are talking to, and what they are watching.
You are bigger and smarter and stronger and faster than them.
When they run away from you, you can catch them.
When they lie to you, you can bust them fairly easily.
When they tell you they didn’t eat the chocolate cupcake while brown crumbs are actually falling out of their mouths, it’s not too hard to put two and two together.
But once they get older and have achieved that independence you’ve been dreaming of, it’s a whole new ball game.
And most of the time you are five runs down in the bottom of the ninth, with two out and a full count.
Getting to the truth requires a masters degree in forensic science and a PhD in criminal investigation.
Your life has changed from an episode of Sesame Street to a Law and Order SVU marathon.
Your days are now spent investigating, probing, swabbing, and interrogating.
And just when you think you are one step ahead of them, they figure a way to get around you.
You will take a phone away, thinking you have outsmarted them, only to discover they’ve been up all night communicating with friends using some other concealed technological device they had strapped into an ankle holster under a pant leg.
But you don’t give up.
Because you have hope.
Hope that they make it to adulthood and are blessed.
Blessed with health and happiness.
And a couple of teenagers of their own who sucked just as bad as they did.
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My current teen (he’s 17) is currently spoiling me for all future teens. I always know where he is, and who he’s with.
Why I think it gets harder, is that their problems are simple when they’re tiny. They’re hungry, dirty, thirsty, frustrated, or need to be held. There’s a checklist and you can basically go through it.
But when they get older, their problems become more complicated. And now they’re figuring these things out while exploring their independence. It’s why I think the way you parent when they’re small is so important. They have to learn to trust and respect you when they’re small, so they’ll come to you when they’re big.
But this whole it-gets-harder thing, is something I have told new parents many times!
I have been telling my friends with younger kids that is does get harder, not easier, as they grow up. Nice to see I’m not the only one who feels that way. I think, at least for me, it’s the loss of control I have over them! ha! Loved that newspaper quote, I needed to instill that into MY teenage self. 😉