Things you thought hard pre-kids - light-hearted

[Workway]

Me first!

I remember various viral illness I had - tonsillitis/colds etc. I remember laying in bed for upto 4 or 5 days at a time feeling so very hard done to. Feeling oh so sorry for myself while I watched films and sipped lemsip and slept and ran baths and messaged people 'oh I feel dreadful, really dreadful'.

I want to slap former me - little did I know how truly awful I might feel with a viral type illness and a toddler or a baby to look after.

The luxury, the luxury of being ill right now with a cold and able to take myself off to bed for 4 days!!

It was not hard.

Your turn!

Being a parent definitely sharpens up your multitasking skills. I work with two teachers who are child free and they are constantly saying how tired they are but they get to go home and do nothing ( apart from work obvs) if they want to.

Really depends on your life doesn’t it. Can’t bear parents who think their experience is unviersal.

Being a carer was way harder than being a parent. I got more sleep on mat leave than I did in the decade of work beforehand. The tiredest I’ve ever been, the most bone crunchingly dangerous tired, was before I had a child. I think of it every time a parent whose life was selfish and/or forgets not everybody’s was.

@MissTrip82 OP says it’s a lighthearted thread. Obviously being a parent isn’t the only tiring responsibility but it’s one many can relate to and compare to their previous life.

Oh no, a typical “my life is so much more tiring/responsible/important now I’ve had kids” thread. Haven’t had one of these in a while.

I think most of the replies are light hearted ones about the glory days of not being rushed off the toilet by spotting your audience sucking on a tampon.

Before I had children, I used to wrap presents beautifully; adorn them with pretty extras and write thoughtful messages on the tags. I used to do this to Christmas music, or with a Christmas film on in the background. Glass of baileys. Quirky Christmas jumper. Then I would place them all under my immaculate tree and photograph the scene for no reason. Float off to bed on a wave of Christmassy goodness.

Now, present wrapping makes me angry. I begin getting angry at just the thought of it around October. All wrapping is done in a frantic 2 hour window where husband and I agree on rules and approach it like we’re going to war.

We shove them all under the tree, (which is now a lumpy, flashing monstrosity covered in grubby, grey, and cracked clay stars. And which I wouldn’t photograph if you paid me to.) and then we spend the next week shouting “DON’T TOUCH THOSE PRESENTS”

And please do not misunderstand me - Christmas with children is absolutely magical. I wouldn’t trade it for all the photogenic trees in the world. But fuck the wrapping.

In the staffroom last week, one of our younger, singe teachers was horrified to learn that my children wouldn’t be having a lie in on the first day of the holidays. He was convinced that they’d be tired and want to stay in bed. I think I shattered his illusions about having children when I pointed out that they still wake up at 6am regardless of how late they go to bed. ‘But…..when will you rest?’ he asked in horror. Poor, innocent man.

In all fairness to him, I used to decline all invitations on the first day of the holidays and stay in bed all day to catch up on sleep. I know I still had to work evenings back then but seriously, what did I do with the rest of my time that made me so exhausted?

Weird. I don't have kids and think my life is, on the whole, simple and easy. That's why I've chosen this lifestyle.
I have a relaxed morning routine before work, love that I can swan out of the front door in 2 minutes whenever I like without the big 'leaving the house' routine, and really appreciate that I can do things like look after myself a bit more when I'm ill.
Did none of you notice the lives of parents around you before you had kids?

I completely agree, OP!

It's the illnesses where you just have to keep going, between throwing up and rushes to the loo, blinding headaches or horrible fevers.

I remember reading a couple of pages of a novel by Anita Brookner where the main character got a migraine and she went to sleep in a cool, darkened room for two whole days!!! Oh my God - I relished those pages as if they were porn - the utterly luxurious thought of being able just to focus on your own illness and shut the world off to rest....

But it usually gets better with time and a) they stop giving you every horrible virus going and b) they can look after themselves while Mummy has a nap eventually!!

@JustEatTheOneInTheBallPit Hahahaha! This!!

@Juliedawson you need to start your own thread for this question. But for what it’s worth, I wouldn’t want to go anywhere that made me dress up on Christmas Day.

@CruisingForAMusing sounds lovely and that’s the life my DDs desire . All power to them.

I remember being 7 months pregnant and working long hours on a film set and having to get home and listen to my flatmate moan about her headache and how she had had to have a long, hot bath with lots of my bubble bath while I just leaned against the doorframe listening to the whining, feeling so exhausted at 10 or 11 at night when I finally had got home (also starving)

@EmilyTjP @CruisingForAMusing @MissTrip82

Oh, I'm so so sorry. I must be in the wrong place.

Can you recommend a forum on the internet for mums? A place created and designed for Mums to share advice, experienced and maybe some jokes? Do you know anywhere I could go for that? I wouldn't want to encroach on the space of childfree people who have no interest in these type of threads. Or the people who aren't interested in sharing universal parental truths as a little joke.

Thanks so much!

@Workway 😂👌