People Explain What No One Warns You About When You're Having Kids

I've always wondering about having kids.

I waver, but then I go out to eat and I see the calamity of parents eating out with kids, and I smile and walk away.

Invincible

"If you felt invincible at some point in your life, you will never feel that way again."

"The mere thought of them being harmed in any way can completely destroy you." ~ ilovelasko

Mental Fitness

"Make sure your mental health is up to par when they become teenagers. I swear my youngest was going to drive me insane with all the worry she put me through with her mental health after her first boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend, after a year of dating. Lots of hugs and cuddles all times of the day due to crying."

"My daughter actually started cutting so I had to make sure to always check her entire body for cut marks and search her entire room for anything sharp. I ended up finding a very small pediatric mental health facility they ran out of a farm house setting. Only around 10 kids at a time there. She went 3 times in 3 years. They taught her coping skills to help when she felt down. It helped tremendously." ~ Daddys__Babygirl

Make a Person

"There's a very good chance they won't turn out like you think." ~ weirdkid71

"People seem to often forget that they're raising people- as in, independent-thinking individuals whose actions, values, personalities, interests, and capabilities will potentially be completely unlike yours. I've seen a lot of parents struggle hard with that, and frankly, that's a possibility you should have made your peace with before you became a parent, imo." ~ MyMorningSun

"a blight on humanity"

"You have to parent the kid you have. The books are fine for ideas, your experience, friends thoughts, paediatricians, therapists. But at the end of it all you have this complicated little person you're in charge of with their own preferences, feelings, insecurities, abilities, and you have to do what works for them and your family and, of course, also raise someone who isn't a blight on humanity or menace to society." ~ Lilac77777

Time is Futile

"The days are loooong and the years are so very short." ~ dreamermom2

There really needs to be some parenting training.

Why is that not a class instead of PE?

Like real life training.

Forever

"Parenthood does not end when they turn 18... it's for the rest of your life." ~ womanitou

Never Silent

"I call it 'active listening' it is really draining. When there is only another adult in the house you don't pay much attention to the everyday noises. With kids you are always listening, are they crying, are they fighting, are they too quiet, what just got opened etc etc. Gets better as they get older but nothing can prepare you for it." ~ chuppiecabra

To be alone...

"For me, I stopped having a chance to think anything through without interruption. I had a very hard time with that. I couldn't remember anything, couldn't make decisions, etc because every thought seemed to get interrupted. I'd just sit in my car alone sometimes so I could think." ~ ElsieDCow

Decisions. Decisions.

"It is one of the two or three most absolute and permanent decisions you can make in life. Once you have kids, you have kids. No going back, no choosing differently, no letting time pass to heal any wounds. Not saying this is good or bad. It's just a permanent decision (if you don't take giving them up for adoption into account)." ~ Soyuz_Pilot

No Life

"When they grow older, you don't have a private life anymore. They stay awake longer than you." ~ theofiel

"Whenever we're trying do do something sneaky, my wife and I always say that having kids is like having parents." ~ The-Horrible-M

I'm so glad I stayed a dog daddy.

Pets are stressful enough.

Kids are a big no thank you to me. Good luck to you all.

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