Before I had children…
arun on Jun 15 2008 at 4:36 am | Filed under: other, parenting | Click here to go HOME | or find out about SUBSCRIBING TO THE PIT |
- before I had children I thought sleeping in was waking up after lunch… now I think its getting to 8am
- before I had children I wondered what stay at home parents did with all their time… now I wonder what people without children do with all of theirs
- before I had children friends called me an “unsociable bastard” when I did not go out at night… now when the same thing happens they call me a “responsible father”
- before I had children I wore a lot of black… now, thanks to my daughter’s constant encouragement there is much colour in my life
- before I had children I managed to hide many of my personal failing, short comings and control freakish nature, even from myself… now interactions with my children seem to have a knack of exposing them all to the cold hard light of day
- before I had children I never really appreciated my parents… now I realise that they did the best they possibly could
- before I had children I talked much, much more and was always right… now I am learning to listen, understand, be more open and am starting to get that being right is not so important after all
- before I had children I was once a kid myself… now with help from my children I am often reintroduced to the wonderment, excitement, passion, mindfulness and curiousity of that child still within me
- before I had children my partner and I nearly broke up because I did not want children… now, well, lets just say that we are all entitled to make mistakes hey?
- before I had children I used walk past earth moving equipment and shiny rocks without a thought… now I can’t walk past a construction site without thinking of my son’s excitement or a shiny rock without picking it up for my daughter’s “crystal” collection
- before I had children I was vague, had no sense of direction and had the short term memory of a gold fish … now… well… perhaps some things don’t change after all
I could keep this up for a long time but I’d rather leave room for you to add your own in the comments below…
That’s beautiful Arun. It’s hard to believe you were ever against having children since you write so eloquently about parenting! Funny how things turn out, eh?
Lovely, Arun!
Before I had children, I thought I’d have some, some day. I had NO idea what that actually meant…
You’ve summed it up beautifully once again.
exactly!
oh I hear you on the first one
Before I had children, I thought that when I did have children that we would spend our days reading, doing art, gardening, walking. I literally believed that my child would just naturally do what I liked to do. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH. Thank goodness for RUS or I’d be hosed from trying to make my child be like me.
“before I had children I managed to hide many of my personal failings, short comings and control freakish nature, even from myself… now interactions with my children seem to have a knack of exposing them all to the cold hard light of day.”
The above one resonates for me!
Before I had children: I was a child.
Before I had children: I thought punishment was logical.
Before I had children: I thought that I would teach my children, rather than learn the true meaning of trust and freedom from watching them teach themselves.
Before I had children: I thought it was all a bit obvious and ‘why couldn’t my mum stay consistent anyway?’
[…] love this post from Arun at the Parenting Pit. My favourite is: “before I had children I managed to hide many […]
Thanks Arun, yet again I cry from the beauty of this unschooling life.
Before I had children I wanted to be ordinary, now I am.
Before I had children I knew how important they were, now I know why.
Beofre I had children…. *scratches head* er… I don’t seem to be able to remember a time before I had children LOL
Before I had children, I wanted a life of adventure. Ha! Be careful what you ask for, huh? (grin)
The best thing here, is that you are actually enjoying your children! So many people do not! Its sad really! I sometimes wonder why some people have children at all!
Before…I used to feel proud of my flat abs ( I actually had abs then) and now when my daughter buries her head in my stomach and tells me what nice soft squishy tummy I have, I feel beautiful. Ya, thats it. I was harder then and soft and squishy now.
I really love this. Beautiful.
What a great meme this would make…..mind if I swipe the idea to share?
Yes its true colleen, i totally did not want children and it almost broke up what was then a 7 year relationship. We went to counseling over it. Obviously as you can see from this site ive made a few shifts
im really enjoying what others are saying for their before & afters, feel free to keep posting them and of course Ren please use it however you would like
I can’t really get in touch what that feeling was before having my own children - feels so long ago now, and so very inconsequential anymore. But the time thing really strikes a chord.
Thank you for this. Lovely!
I actually did break up with Brian and moved out to another State!!!!!
I once said I did not want to have children because if I did I would be such a f@#&*ng great mom and would always be with my kids.
(I was having too much fun being single and free …little did I know this motherhood was soo much better…)
Some days I think I am a failure but I was right about wanting to always be with my kids.
Thanks for the great post! Did I ever tell you how much I like reading what you have to say??
[…] I do want to direct you to this post over at “the parenting pit”. It’s a cute one from a homeschooling dad about before he had children. http://theparentingpit.com/2008/06/15/before-i-had-children/ […]