What I didn't know until I had children

shortdog

That Justin Fletcher should be worshipped and prayed to as the god of all childrens TV.
That you'll know every word to every theme tune on Cbeebies, but won't have the faintest idea what's happening in Corrie/Eastenders etc.
That Cbeebies bedtime hour is the best thing in the world ("Oh, no, the TV's finished! That means it's bedtime, come on!")
It doesn't matter how old they are, you still make sure they are breathing when you go to bed.
That you can ring an ambulance, organise childcare for the other kids, pack a bag and make sure the cat's in, all whilst holding a pad to a bleeding head/giving a nebuliser/etc, deal with an A&E visit, subsequent treatment, and the trip home, without panicking once. Until poorly child goes to bed that night. Then you'll end up in floods of tears on the phone to your mum!
And that sitting on the sofa with a sleepy child snuggled up on your lap is the best feeling in the world, which makes up for all the tears, tantrums and mess.

duckeggblue

That most of us go through a shared experience.

That I didn't realise I could ever be so zombiefied, that mother and toddler group is NOT for the toddlers benefit, that they look so sweet when asleep.

thorsoak

....I heartily endorse all the above ....and then remember ....grandchildren are the reward for not killing your own children/teenagers

Salz

That bribery is the only thing that works in 95% of disagreements with your child - the other 5% you just have to give in and admit defeat... :o

Sequeena

I didn't know how hard it would be. The guilt, the constant second guessing myself wondering if I'd did something else he wouldn't have the problems he does now.

The latest one being he may have a genetic condition that I'm the carrier for and I didn't have a clue. That one's tough to swallow but I'm trying not to worry.

On a more positive note, I didn't know how much mashed potato a 22 month old could put in his ear.

LannieDuck

That I had so much rubbish in my house that a crawling baby could potentially put in their mouth (baby proofing was a nightmare!)

That news-reports or TV episodes involving harm to children would suddenly become 100x worse than they were before.

That children's TV isn't the devil incarnate, and that I would be heartily grateful for CBeebie's bedtime hour

How much I would want to tell everyone about my baby's latest milestone. And that I would actively have to make myself talk about something else :P

pigpen

Sequeena wrote: »

On a more positive note, I didn't know how much mashed potato a 22 month old could put in his ear.

Or how many peas they can get up one nostril!!!!!!

shortdog

pigpen wrote: »

Or how many peas they can get up one nostril!!!!!!

Sweetcorn in the ears is a good one.... 4 times in one week:eek: (practice nurse was sick of looking at me!)

The law that states that all babies learn to roll over the one time you leave them in the middle of the double bed and turn round for half a millisecond. You never forget that thump

samtoby

That you need them in your life just as much as they need you, just in different ways.

[Deleted User]

That you happily go along with a child centred approach.., feeling like a criminal and you are doing something wrong if your baby cries, is unhappy hurt etc.

Then your baby becomes a child, goes to nursery and school. But they're still your baby.., and u seem to have to walk a tightrope between not being negligent or too tough on your baby, being sufficiently child centred to give them good self esteem and confidence.., but not so far over the other side that you're 'ruining them for life'. And somehow, magically you are supposed to know where that line is.., and see every small step in the wrong direction in advance of taking it. This is further confused by the emotions you feel when someone else hurts your child in any way.., and u have to be polite, when u want to throw a large rock at the offending person/child/teacher.

Then your 'child' turns into a teenager and you start to pay for every mistake you know u've made.., and a few you didn't see but your teen did (and has brewed on for at least 10 years). You start to associate 'child centred' with another not so polite word. But you love them, and change your approach in certain ways and hope one day they'll forgive you for your many sins. You console yourself with every child/teen you've ever seen who went wrong for a while but straightened out in the end.

Then the teen becomes of an age to leave school and go to college or find work.., and suddenly the 'child centred' approach is the enemy. Your child has to cope with 'hard knocks' world. U've been telling them this, you've been trying to introduce them to the idea that unfortunately the world is sometimes an unfair place and how to cope, how to select the unfair things you can do something about, and the ones you can't (this is where they learn not to throw rocks). But underneath it all.., its confused because in spite of your child being a foot taller than you, when u look at them all you can see is 'your baby'.