What part of parenting did you not foresee?

[misboo]

For me, it would be the surprise poo i found on the floor this afternoon, and my calm reaction to it.

(It was easily traced back to DS (2 years) who denied it...)

[Mamazon]

SN.
It just didn't occur to me.

[Mumcentreplus]

[email protected] are not alone!

[LadyBabo]

Didn't forsee...
How much dd would make me laugh...
How being around a toddler all day makes you feel SO UNSEXY!
How much I would love and like her...
How much she would be like me and dh, even though she's donor conceived...
That she'd love salad.

[fondant4000]

The lack of control and dealing with negotiating skills from a 4 year old that Kofi Annan would be proud of.

Me saying "when me and your dad were little we didn't...... [get whatever it is you are asking for]..... we had to [go up chimneys and eat soot as a treat - or other similar hardship]

[purpleduck]

That my mother's voice sometimes comes out of my mouth

ffs!!!

[LittleMissMac]

That I could be so very, very tired and not be resentful about it.

That I could still cry quite so much at the drop of a hat, 6 months post partum.

Echo the sentiments about not minding own baby's bodily fluids. Who woulda thunk it.

(This is a great thread, by the way!)

[cory]

disability

that I'd be spending so much time fighting for treatment for dd, fighting for her education, fighting the Education welfare

I don't know quite what I thought about being a parent- but I probably thought there'd be more time for parenting

[phlossie]

That I can feel all-consuming love not one but two (and I hope one day three) little people.
The lack of personal space, and the fact that I can type with my left hand with babe on boob and toddler on my head ("dit on dere, dit on mamma").

[nickytwotimes]

Anna, where do you live that it is warm enough to be naked?!
I didn't forsee how much i would love a child or be so bored!

[happystory]

That my little bundle of joy would turn into a shaving/spotty/sleeping-in-till- midday teenager who will be taking his GCESs what seems like 2 minutes after I took my O levels...

[Bumdiddley]

I didn't mean ditto the nekid thing...although ds1 would luuuurve to spend all day 'nakie'

[Bumdiddley]

Ditto - talking about myself in the third person, gawd sakes.

Trotting out the same cliches as my parents - 'It'll end in tears', 'How many times have I told you', 'I want, doesn't get' etc

[Anna8888]

That I - and my child - would spend quite so many hours a day naked.

[Anchovy]

I think I sort of thought it would be like having a very small flatmate and that I would be wafting around in an unspecifiedly parental way in the background.

There has been very little wafting, or indeed background.

[newgirl]

that the children trust you so completely

and reflect you back very clearly

[LynetteScavo]

My addiction to mumsnet.

[LynetteScavo]

Not minding much when a little person wipes thier snot on my face.

Waking up in a bed soaked in childs urine.

School refusal.

[ScarletA]

how judgemental I would become

how my hair would become a nit colony

[verylittlecarrot]

that I would have a baby who never left my arms, 24 hours a day. I thought you got to put them down for naps, bedtime and the like, and I would have my hands free for an hour or two a day.

Did not see this coming at all.

[mummy2t]

the amount of tupperware i seem to own now!!!

[minouminou]

that people would suddenly start taking DP's opinion more seriously than mine on all matters NOT relating to babies
that one shocked me, i can tell you
took quite a bit of stamping on
and how much some people really do dislike children
oh, and i thought i'd find the 1st few months with DS boring, and he turned out to be fascinating (as they all do)

[ruddynorah]

the way it would change my view of my own parents and some events during my childhood.

that it would make me miss my mother more than i ever thought possible.

[Bluebutterfly]

When ds is ill with a fever (as he has been for the last 4 days) how utterly stuck in the house I am until dh gets home from work.

And agree with nnb about the groundhog day thing. Repetition is not the spice of life!

Love ds so much that I almost don't mind, though...

[notnowbernard]

The Groundhog Day Effect

Esp with regard to the mealtime/mess/tidy-up

Repeat 3 times a day

Does my head in sometimes!

[FasterPussyCatGrrrl]

that i'd have days where i feel phenomenally s**t at it, and be certain they'll hate me when they're older.