14 things you learn after becoming a millennial parent

Of course there’s the sheer joy of becoming a mother. Tiny little hands and slightly wrinkled faces that you have to agree are so cute(otherwise you’re a monster) and the overwhelming feeling of now what?. You won’t really admit that after the novelty of becoming a new parent wears off, you’re terrified that nothing has prepared you to actually take care of these tiny creatures. And as time goes by, maybe you slowly come to these realizations.

1. None of the parenting books worked. The hundreds of dollars spent preparing to be a kick ass parent was all a waste of money. Your kids are the complete opposite of your expectations and you are left unprepared to deal with the mess.
2. You actually applaud your parents for a job well done. How they managed to raise more than one child and cause very little damage is incomprehensible. But this gives you confidence to know that you can do it too.
3. You feel the pressure to choose between your career and your family because you don’t want to look like you can’t do it all but you don’t want to miss your children’s childhood for a career. (Then you wonder why you had kids so early with all this technology and people having children at 50).
4. You refuse to give up on the things you still love like culture, fashion, art and travel, even though you have little or no time for them. And so you make time by prioritizing your life so that only the truly enriching experiences stay in your new journey. You let go of meaningless friendships, you cut off that toxic relative and you unlearn those bad habits that took too much of your time with no reward.
5. You realize that just because you have kids, doesn’t mean you like all kids. There’s no other way to say this.
6. Instead of buying your little miss that cute Easter dress that she will wear for all of 5 minutes before she grows out of it, you buy yourself those cute shoes you saw because you won’t grow out of them.
7. You still enjoy most of things you did before kids but now, you get to do those things (if at all) with a side of guilt and a dash of judgement if these things don’t include your kids.
8. You swore to “snap back” in shape after the babies but 4 years down the line, you’re still telling people it’s “baby weight”. And you know what? It IS baby weight because you have pictures to prove that you had a banging body in the year 2000 BB ( Before Baby). Thank God for all these body positivity campaigns because now you can finally embrace your stretch marks and cellulite in peace.
9. You have become more unapologetic about certain things (like saying NO ) because goddamit, you carried a human in your body for 10 months (yes, 40 weeks is 10 months), and that’s bad ass.
10. You never knew a hug from tiny hands around your neck could feel so good that it makes your heart skip a beat. That’s what love feels like. And deep down, you know that you would give everything to give them everything. And you shudder to think you could’ve missed out on this gloriously exclusive experience of motherhood and womanhood.
11. You’re determined to raise well rounded kids but then you realize that involves  a lot of open-mindedness that you’re not sure you’re prepared for.
12. You comfortably shop at the same store and at times the same section as your kids because that stuff looks good on you and your fashion sense hasn’t evolved much.
13. You actually listen to your child’s opinion because you want to get their perspective. You no longer ascribe to “because I said so” because you realize that it’s important to raise a child with a healthy insight.
14. Sometimes, you don’t want to be the parent. And so you get that thoroughly vetted, background checked, responsible babysitter so that you and your girlfriends can have a girls night out and responsibly take an Uber home at 4 in the morning , in time to make Sunday breakfast for the kids.

Hurray Mommies!!

Millennial parents aren’t so selfish after all, we just know that we want the man, the baby, the career and the self, all wrapped up in a big bow.

Did I forget anything? comment below 🙂

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton