Things You Appreciate More Once You Have Kids
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I recently read this blog post from Scary Mommy about 10 Things I Wish I’d Done Before I Had Kids.
Things like travel, appreciate sleep, get into shape, treasure my alone time blah blah blah. Not a bad list – but honestly for me, I couldn’t relate to any of it. I enjoyed my life before kids (as I do now after kids) but don’t wish I’d done anything differently. And I certainly don’t regret anything …
“Appreciating Sleep” can only be appreciated when you know what it’s like to not have it. And before kids, you have no idea. No f’ing idea. Sleep deprivation is seriously a form of torture, and there’s no way in my life I’ve ever experienced anything like it before having kids.
“Travelling before kids“, well I did some of that. But honestly it’s not as if becoming a parent means my life is over. When the kids get a little older, if we are fortunate enough then we will travel together. If not – then we look forward to doing it together as a couple once the kids are older.
“Keeping in fabulous shape” … again, everything changes after you have a baby. If you’re lucky it doesn’t, but for me it did. And I was in relatively good shape. Pregnancy, breastfeeding and just all-round eating has changed my body forever. It wouldn’t have mattered if I was in fabulous shape before hand anyway …
I could say more, but I don’t know if you really need to hear the rest HAHA … A lot of what was on the list was more of a “I wish I had a chance to do this NOW” more than anything. There’s no point in going back in time and wishing you did things differently – because unless you know what it’s like in your current state, you’d never appreciate it.
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Once you have kids, I have found that you tend to appreciate things MORE. So in the spirit of looking at the positive, here are some things you appreciate once you have kids:
- Sleep
- Time Alone
- My body pre-babies (I will appreciate it post-babies, but that takes time)
- Coffee
- Wine
- My husband / partner
- A tidy house
- Eating your own meal
- Having an excuse to leave something early because “kids”
- The weekend
- Having a shower every single day
- Doing the grocery shopping alone
- Watching a movie in it’s entirety without interruption
- Day time naps
- Hot food
- Hot drinks
- Friends
- Going to the toilet in peace
- Silence
- My parents
- The outdoors
- Getting in and out of the car in less than 30 seconds
- Chocolate
- The amount of dishes to do after dinner (or lack thereof)
- Only doing the laundry once a week (instead of multiple times each day)
- Sleeping in your own bed with your partner, and not a child
- Having a mess-free car
- Adult conversation
- Reading a book
- Lego-free floors
A lot of these things I didn’t appreciate before kids, but now, by golly they mean a lot to me. Simple things like enjoying a hot coffee, or sitting on the toilet without someone screaming my name; or just enjoying an adult conversation without interruption.
I appreciate these things so much more after having kids.
I love my children. I love being a Mother. I love appreciating all of these things, and wouldn’t change anything for the world..
What do you appreciate more since having kids?
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