I was wrong

Before I became a parent - about a billion years before I became a parent - I worked with kids in a daycare center. Even before then I began to formulate my ideas about raising kids and what was appropriate, and what I would or would not do as a parent. And I was wrong about some of these things. Actually, I was wrong about many of these things. I'm sure I will be wrong about many more things yet to come, especially when we get to the teenage years, but I can't think that far ahead because I start to hyperventilate.

Here is a list of a few of the things I have been wrong about to date:

- I swore I would never use pull-up diapers. They seemed so annoying and a little bit useless, actually. But recently I realized that they could be pulled up and down, where diapers couldn't. And I am really trying to get Nick excited about using the toilet.
- I was not going to feed my kids candy. It's not like I feed them spun sugar for breakfast, but recently Nick threw a fit when I didn't buy M&M's at the checkout counter, and I realized that I had gotten into a habit which was worse for him than it was for me... no more M&M's.
- I would limit TV time. And I do. It's just that there's much more of it to limit. I need to get better at it, but it's so convenient for when I need to do things like get dressed or write this blog.
- We would play outside as much as we can. Nick would be outside right now, if he could. In the cold, wet rain. Nate would never leave the house, but he has no say. I have a very limited range of tolerance to temperature, and it's usually too hot or too cold to stay out longer than an hour.
- I would not be one of those hysterical parents who called the doctor for every little thing. I am one of those hysterical parents who calls the doctor for every little thing.
- I would not become one of those parents that looses the ability to have a grown up conversation that does not include talking about the cute things my kids do. I recently realized I have nothing to speak to some of my friends about, and a lot of this is because they have no kids stories to swap. If they tell me a story about their date last Saturday, I feel I need something better than "there's a new slide at the park" or "we saw some goats" to reply with.
- I would never be caught outside the house without diapers or a bottle (or juice) or a change of clothes. This happens to me ALL THE TIME.
- I would keep pairs of my kids' socks together in the laundry. Can one defy nature? I think not.
- I would keep up with the laundry so that my little boy wouldn't be forced to wear palid pyjama bottoms with a blue striped shirt out in public. No comment necessary.