Expert Parenting

Before I became a parent, I thought I knew it all.

I knew how children should act in a restaurant.

I knew how children should be on an airplane.

I knew how children should behave in a grocery store.

I was an expert at parenting and looked away in horror at the children throwing french fries across the restaurant, at the parents who couldn’t keep their baby quiet on an airplane and at the children who weren’t quietly sitting in the grocery cart while the parent shopped.

I knew how I would do it all and it would all go according to plan.

Well.

Then I had kids. And this happened. And on an airplane, this happened. And in a grocery store, this happened.

And my world was rocked.

Because everything I thought I knew flew right out the window.

And you know what? I didn’t know a damn thing!

I hardly babysat, I didn’t have any nieces or nephews, my friends didn’t have any kids and yet here I was thinking I knew it all?

Who the eff was I?

And why was I so judgmental?

I wish I could go back in time and slap myself across the face. And instead of being such an asshole, lend a helping hand. Play peek-a-boo with the fry-throwing child. Offer to hold the crying baby  on the airplane to give the mom a break. Load the groceries on the conveyor belt for the parent struggling in the checkout line.

I just don’t think you really know until you are there for yourself.

I guess my advice is to be as helpful as you can be when you see a struggling parent. When you see that child having a tantrum on the floor, don’t stare. Open the door for a parent with their hands full. And if it seems appropriate, sympathize with a parent who looks like they might fall apart.

Just don’t judge.

Because if you plan on ever being a parent, it’ll probably happen to you.