Being a good parent is tough. In fact, it’s really hard. Those who have been through it know the challenges and struggles. It’s utterly exhausting getting through till they’re in bed. And then you have to get up to do it all over again. Every single day.
For the fortunate few with dream kids, participating spouses, a wider family support network and/or greater financial freedom, the journey may be very different.
For the rest of us, it’s a daily hustle. Doing the best we can to keep it altogether. There’s no backup. There aren’t any alternatives. We’ve got to get through it. For the sake of those that mean absolutely everything to us.
ParentingHacker was created to help all parents who are in the trenches – sleep deprived, trying to move things forward step by step, dodging curve balls that come out of nowhere.
We need all the help we can get as we fumble our way through new problems every day, and every week, month, year through the stages from baby/toddler through to teens and beyond.
It’s a long long journey ahead and most of us are already totally exhausted at the very beginning. As the saying goes — “children are a 20 year project”.
When deciding to have a baby, most people think of the cute bundle of magic that will come to complete their lives. Not the dedication and sacrifice that needs to be put in continuously for decades.
Just as children didn’t come with a manual, life didn’t come with one either. A lot of parents didn’t really know what they were getting into when having a child. Or two, or three.
Everything may have been rosy at one point. Your job, your health, your marriage, your outlook. Unfortunately, things change. But the little people you brought into this world will always be your responsibility.
Every parent wants to do better. Everyone wants to be the best mom or dad. But no one taught them how to. Or they just got lost along the way.