A few nights ago our friends dropped in for a routine visit. They happen to be childless, and while children are not on the cards for them at any time in the near future, they really would like them right now.

At one point, my friend told Tim that she was just going to take our little munchkin instead. Tim and I both said…go for it. She said that was a bit rough, and again we could have won a gold medal for our synchronized reply… “You have NO idea”

It’s true. And BC, or before child…I had no idea either. I’m reading a book recommended to me by one of my girls. It’s called “I was a great Mum before I had kids” Before I even had the book, I loved it. Because the statement made in the title is true of everyone, whether they know it or not.

I was one of those people that looked down my nose at people who let their kids run wild in supermarkets. I wondered why they just didn’t control the situation as their child threw themselves at the floor screaming because they couldn’t have a lolly. I judged everything, from dummies, to speech development, to manners.

But seriously, what would I know? I had no idea. I still have no idea. And now I’m a parent. Before children, when I was warned that being a parent was hard I thought to myself…sure. It’s hard. I know that.

To those people who tried to warn me I say…solving a Rubik’s cube is hard. Opening the lid on a child proof container is hard and getting burnt rice off the bottom of a pot is hard.

They should probably reconsider their definition of having children, or the use of the word “hard” to describe being a parent. While I can take the sticker’s off a Rubik’s cube and rearrange them back in order, and I can throw the child proof container at the wall in anger, or simply throw the ruined pot out and replace it with a new one, none of those things applies to having kids or being a parent.

Nothing I say will prepare you.

All I can say is…”there’s the deep end…good luck”