This weekend, a sister from our ward threw a Harry Potter/Halloween party for the kids in her Primary Class and their siblings. All four of my daughters went to it, and so my wife and I took our baby boy and went into town to run some errands. We had a great time with our single child, again. We even went out to eat at a sitdown restaurant! There was no mess, screaming, whining for where to go or not go... we just went. We even went to the supermarket together, and there was no chasing kids down the aisle, or explaining how they couldn't have this or that.
I thought about how nice it was to have just one kid... such a breeze! Hardly an inconvenience, to tell you the truth!
NOTHING like the time we were first parents. It amuses me how huge a change we thought it was when we had our first child, but now, going back to that time that gave us SUCH STRESS is like stepping into heaven.
I guess this whole parenting experience is teaching me stuff... though honestly I don't know when or how it got easier, save that it we just had to let go of a lot of expectations... let go of the need to control every little detail of the experience... and just experience it.
Perhaps there's an analogy in here somewhere... some parallel to God's feelings towards being a parent, perhaps he's pleased to call Christ his only begotten son, as though he were a parent getting a break and only has one kid to deal with... all the rest are busy off somewhere at a party... :)
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
I thought about how nice it was to have just one kid... such a breeze! Hardly an inconvenience, to tell you the truth!
NOTHING like the time we were first parents. It amuses me how huge a change we thought it was when we had our first child, but now, going back to that time that gave us SUCH STRESS is like stepping into heaven.
I guess this whole parenting experience is teaching me stuff... though honestly I don't know when or how it got easier, save that it we just had to let go of a lot of expectations... let go of the need to control every little detail of the experience... and just experience it.
--Ray
Yes, there is something to be said when you only have one child to deal with and the rest are farmed out somewhere or old enough to take care of themselves. There's a feeling of freedom that you don't get too often. Maybe because you are no longer outnumbered.
We actually went to a sit down restaurant this weekend too, but we had our three younger children with us. It was relatively painless.
I wouldn't say that parenting has gotten easier, it's just you have learned to deal with what parenting throws at you and you have learned how to juggle. Don't sweat the small stuff is something that only experience can teach you.
Grandma took three of our berzerkers to the movies Saturday so it was just the wife, myself, and the baby. We went to the new Costco and sampled to our hearts content. I hear you Ray. I thought life was stressful with just one kid. When you go from four to one for a few precious hours it is a really nice treat.
Yeah, I pretty much think that by the time I get parenting all figured out I'll be like a great grandma or dead.
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
I think expectations (of yourself and of your kids) change. They have to. Having more than 1 is also easier in some ways, because they keep each other entertained.
re: parallels with our parenting and Heavenly Father's parenting: the othe day I was having my 2-year-old put away the eating utensils. She was getting frustrated at not getting everything put in the perfect spot. To me, getting it perfect wasn't the point, it was the teaching her to work and giving her the satisfaction of contributing that was important. I said to her, "Just do your best, that's all I ask." Those words struck me hard. I'm often down on myself for not getting things perfect. But it's not about getting it just right, right now. It's about learning what He is trying to teach me, contributing to building up His kingdom. My best is all He asks.
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"There is order in the way the Lord reveals His will to mankind. . .we cannot receive revelation for someone else's stewardship." L. Tom Perry
My youngest is 17... We never have to worry any more about who will watch anyone while we get time alone... THAT IS a HUGE blessing. We try to watch kids for young families in the ward... cause I remember how hard it was when they were all little... Nevertheless,
TODAY I think PARENTING is the PITS!!!
My adult children... now, have adult problems... Physically parenting gets easier but at least for me parenting will never be easy... cause I love them so much I want them to have it ALL (happy, stress free, enough income, no marital problems, no kid problem lives... etc.,) and THAT is just not possible, nor should it be, cause no one would learn anything... But when I am struggling with the fears and discouragement that come from an adopted, whose family is falling apart under the strain of betrayal, sin, anger, AND divorce... I am reminded of what Heavenly Father has put up with in me...
And then I remember to be GRATEFUL I never had to be MY parent... I was NOT a nice kid.
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