People often romanticise parenting as something fun and easy to do, but that’s not at all how it is. Being a parent means giving your all, working hard, and being ready to make changes. Many parents would say that it’s all worth it in the end, even though there are problems.
A father talked about how his marriage ended because his wife got pregnant without telling him. He didn’t want to have another child, but his wife had other ideas. She stopped taking her birth control pills without telling him, and she was so happy when she found out she was pregnant. But her husband wasn’t, and the fighting between them caused them to get a divorce.
One more single parent talked about how she raised her child by herself. When her seven-year-old daughter asked her where kids came from, she looked for a kid’s book that would make it simple for her Daughter to understand. One parent complained and said she would call the police and child protection services if her daughter told her friends what she had learnt.
A woman told a story about her distant cousins’ daughter, who would often not eat for days if she didn’t get a certain thing. Instead of coming up with a middle ground, her folks would wait until she was hungry to eat. She kept acting this way until she found smarter ways to trick her parents.
Another friend told how, after five years of marriage, her husband all of a sudden wanted to have a child. As soon as she asked him to help her with the baby, he told her she was being “sick” for even asking.
A mother of two talked about how annoyed she is when people think her 15-year-old daughter takes care of her younger brother or sister. In fact, the family is having a hard time with money, and the older daughter is well aware of how much it costs them. She is aware that if she takes on more child care duties, she will have to give up things she wants and needs.
A father talked about taking care of his new daughter in the hospital. For her, he had to do everything, like feed her and change her diaper. He was curious if other parents had lived through times when they had to take care of their kids for weeks on end.