What’s the worst part of having a child, and why is it worrying?
Am I right, moms? I don’t think it ever stops, but we do what we do to love and protect them. After someone asked the parents of an online community what their worst parts of being a parent were, here is how they responded.
Table of Contents
1. Worrying
I’m not alone! The worst part about having a child was worrying about them for the rest of your life. A user added, “A friend said that having kids is like having some important organ, like your heart, play in the street dodging traffic.”
Fathers experience just as much worry. One commented, “I was freaking out waiting for my kid to be born (planned C-section). The nurse asked me why I was nervous. I said I’m about to meet someone I will know for the rest of my life.” Awe.
2. Days Drag, but the Years Fly
Another parent confesses the best advice they ever got was from an older hospital security guard, “The days are long, the years are short, cherish them while you can.”
To which one replied, “You don’t know it, but one day you pick your kid up for the last time.” This hit hard for some as they recapped the last time they could pick up their children.
3. Being Sick
Caring for a sick child when you are ill and not wanting to do anything but lay around is very difficult. A mother shares, “That has been the most challenging part so far.”
Another explains, “I always manage to catch their bug just as they start getting better, so my kid is back at 100% and wanting to charge around and play, all the while I’m struggling even to think.”
4. Self-Preservation
Having to deal with a child’s total lack of self-preservation. They are creative and devise various ways to try and kill themselves. Keeping ahead of the game is exhausting.
“My kid ran into a playground pole and broke their nose,” a mom says. “Not only did I get a huge hospital bill, but I have also unlocked a new set of fears that I know exactly how capable they are of unceremoniously causing extreme bodily harm to themselves shockingly fast.”
5. How They Will be Treated
Constantly worrying about how others will treat your child is stressful. One parent writes, “I will never forget the first time I saw another child being mean to my daughter and having to keep it together and remind myself that it was a child.”
Another added, “I’ve never been more proud of my nephew than the day he stood up to a classmate and kicked him out of his birthday party for bullying my child.”
6. It’s Like a Video Game
Kids seem to find ways to hurt themselves. One user asks, “You know those video games where you must escort a character to a destination without being attacked? That’s parenting.
They will try to climb tall things and jump off. They will pick up the sharpest thing they can find and stumble around with it and pull down heavy furniture. If it can hurt them in the 20 seconds, you aren’t watching; they’ll do it.”
7. Watching Them Copy Your Bad Habits
Kids watch you do everything, including your bad habits. One user stated, “they copy some of your habits, and you will soon realize how annoying those habits are.”
“Saw a quick video of a toddler groaning every time they bent over to pick up a toy. Wonder where they picked that up?” another user joked.
8. Worrying if You’re Good Enough
A perfect parent doesn’t exist. We lose our tempers, we make mistakes, and we’re human. But a parent that worries about this is a step ahead already.
One user advises, “I’ve observed that parents who do worry if they are doing things wrong are generally good parents. We’re all just muddling through. Admit your mistakes, apologize, correct when necessary, and try your best.”
9. Second Job
Parenting is a 24/7 second job with no vacation or sick days without a second paycheck. One mom confirmed, “Oh, you’re sick? Too bad! You still have to parent while all you want to do is curl up in bed, and you can barely take care of yourself, but you still have to feed and pay attention to the little human.
Not to mention you can’t take medicine when you’re sick. A second commented, “cold meds will make you sleep, and you can’t wake up on them, and kids get into things if you don’t wake up.”
10. Planning
Planning things becomes much more complicated. You can’t just get on a plane. You have to prepare for a stroller, a car seat, and a rental car so you don’t have to haul your kid’s stuff on a bus. You only realize you’ll miss the little things once they’re gone.
You also can’t plan on easy nights out to eat. A final parent says, “You might be out at a restaurant, and your kid gets mad because of some irrelevant thing, so you just need to pay your bill and leave or eat in shifts so someone can be outside with a mad toddler.”
