#2 On parenting

Or my list of things you should be ready for before having a baby

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

I have an almost 3 years old sister and I have been living with her for the last two months, and here is the list of the things that I think you should be ready for before having a baby:

• My sister always gets up with the same positive energy, the same curiosity every day. Yes, like every single day. There are days when I feel low, but her smile always cheers me up and usually instantly “sobers” me.
  The thing that I learned from this is that when you are going to have a child, try to be at your best at being emotionally stable. Yes, your kid may cheer you up by just smiling or just doing some funny stuff, but if the kid wants you to play with him, your “iamfeelinglownow“ shouldn’t be a blocker. Well, after all, it’s not her problem.

• Your sleep schedule will most likely become f*cked up. My most productive hours were the time after she goes to bed. The good thing is that they usually sleep about 12 hours a day, so you will probably have around 3 hours for yourself. Use this time wisely.
  Note: My sister lives in Tajikistan most of the time, but now she came to visit me and my siblings and didn’t go to the kindergarten here.

• Entertaining the kid is the responsibility of both father and mother. Period.
  Try to be as creative as possible — come up with new places, games, or videos to watch, after all. Kids love new experiences, so will do you, just believe me here.

• Small children sometimes tend to piss in their pants, make a mess in the house, scratch the wallpaper, write with a pen on them, and so on, and so forth. It shouldn't piss you off. Control your emotions while talking to a kid. Screaming never helped — the kid will just cry. Also, the kid a priori does not understand why this is bad.
  Do not forbid doing things, learn to negotiate instead. Do not say “do not eat in bed”, say “eat at the table”.

• Take courses on parenting, at least read some books. But, yeah, practice makes perfect.

What did I miss? I am sure I did. Let’s discuss!

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