Children are Hard

 

Every stage is the hardest, especially with your first, and you've never done it before.

- Babies are so helpless and dependent on you 28 hours a day and what if you mess up?

- Toddlers are willful and 'no' and don't listen and can barely communicate and have so much energy. How can you possibly keep up?

- School-age kids are learning so much and exposed to the world and all it's heartbreak and depth of possibilities. How do you protect and support them?

- Preteens are so busy with themselves and their circle and activities and so many things. How do you guide them in the right direction?

- Teens are changing so fast and so sure they don't need you and they know everything. How can you stay important in their lives?

- Young adults are going out on their own and have to do it themselves and learning how to manage it themselves and you can't do it for them. How can you help but still encourage their independence?

- And then they aren't dependent on you, and you don't need to keep up, and they can protect themselves, and they've got their own direction, and they decide what's important, and they are independent. And they become your friend instead of your child, and everything else was completely worth it.