8 Things No One Told Me About Being the Parent of a Preschooler

Before becoming a parent I always heard the typical things: “You will never sleep again”, “It goes so fast so enjoy every moment” and these things are true. I was prepared for no sleep and the baby stages, but no one told me how difficult it would be to deal with preschoolers. Between the ages of 3 and 5 children are learning to be independent and a pushing limits and boundaries and this can make the terrible two’s look like a walk in the park.

You will no longer look forward to bedtime.

Before I had children I imagined myself putting my child into bed, reading them a book, kissing them on the head and walking out of the room as they drifted off to sleep. Oh how mistaken I was! Not only is getting them into bed at a descent time but getting them to stay there is a feat! Last minute bathroom trips, “forgetting” something in another room, they NEED their lovey/water/ back scratched/another lullaby etc..anything to not go to bed at that moment, and they can get quite creative.

Talking on the phone to anyone while your kids are around will be almost impossible.

I am not sure what it is about being on the phone, but its like sending out the bat signal to children. As soon as I get on the phone, my children, no matter where they are, will hunt me down and ask for something that they absolutely need at that very moment. I have tried telling them ahead of time that mommy will be on the phone or just sneaking away and hiding in another room but nothing works!

You will never be able to just get into your car and go somewhere.

Getting everyone ready to leave the house can take forever. For some reason, as soon as you are about to leave to go anywhere your kids will suddenly remember the 6 things that they need to take with them. I mean why do they need to bring their toys/books/jewelry/musical instrument with them for the 10-min drive to school? I still don’t know the answer to this. And once you get to the car? That’s another 10 minutes of getting everyone situated, coaxing them into their car seats and/or waiting for them to buckle themselves in.

You will have more conversations about wearing weather appropriate attire then you ever thought you would.

You would think that keeping warm would be on your child’s list of basic life needs..but oh no my friend! Flip flops and T-shirts in the winter, daily arguments over wearing a coat or jacket, winter boots in the summer, the list goes on!

You will no longer need an alarm clock.

Once you have kids they will become your alarm clock. However, this alarm clock has a randomized setting as to how you will be woken each morning. One day it may be your child just standing there until you open your eyes for a second, scaring the living daylights out of you, the next you may be awoken by a ninja jump right onto your stomach/crotch, or on those lucky days, it may be to a little body crawling in bed and snuggling up against you.

There will be times where you just don’t like your kid.

Now don’t get me wrong this doesn’t mean that you don’t love them, but there will be times that they will have you on the edge of insanity. You will ask them to do something and they will intentionally do the opposite thing, you will speak to them and they will ignore you..kids know exactly what buttons to push and while this is completely normal it is also completely normal to feel overwhelmed, frustrated or just plain annoyed!

They remember everything…you don’t want them to.

Even though you will be convinced that your child doesn’t listen to a word you say, when it comes to something that they want to remember their memory never fails. For instance, if your child is begging you to do something and you say to them, maybe we will do it tomorrow, then you better be prepared to do it tomorrow! I guarantee as soon as they wake up that next day they will be asking you to do that thing that you thought/hoped they would forget about.

You will question your parenting skills all. the. time.

As a parent you have the burden of shaping your child into a happy, healthy, self-sufficient adult. This is a HUGE responsibility. It is normal to question whether what you are doing is right, or whether it will have the intended result you want it too, rather than scarring your child for life. When your child does something wrong, you will question whether it was because of something you did or taught them. Do you discipline them enough? Not enough? It seemed so easy for our parents didn’t it? You can’t let these moments overwhelm you. Take a breath and remind yourself that you are doing your best and that is all we can do.