There are certain things that I believe you will never understand until you are a mom of three or more kids. I've always said that once you get to three kids, adding more kids is just more noise and money. You'll often find that moms of that many kids are more inclined to let their kids have friends over, often having a house full. It puzzles moms of one or two more than a few times. Here are some of the things you just never truly understand until you are a mom of three or more.....
A 5 year old is perfectly capable of learning to change a diaper. It sounds crazy, right? It's not. Of course, it needs to be supervised but 5 year olds can, indeed, learn to change diapers. If you have your kids very close together (like I did mine), you can use all the of help you can get. Occasionally that means that while you're wrangling your toddler, your five year old can change a diaper.
More than that, your 5 year old is likely to WANT to be helpful Look, none of us are going to force our 5 year old to change diapers but when they ask to learn and they're good at it, you accept it. They actually WANT to help a good portion of the time. It's like a real live baby doll for them, in their little opinions.
You can truly listen to three different conversations at the same time. I'm not going to say that you are going to fully comprehend all three at once but you can definitely listen and answer to three conversations at once....even when they're talking over each other.
Quiet is relative. What a mom of one deems as quiet is completely different from what you deem as quiet. You start to forget what quiet sounds like. When the noise is down to a dull roar, you feel like it's quiet.
Clean is relative too. You start to accept the fact that you're probably not going to have a clean house. The idea of "when they all sleep" becomes a joke because IF they all sleep at the same time, you do a quick clean and then take a damn break because you're exhausted!
Sanity is also sort of relative This, especially, applies if your kids are within a year or two of each other chronologically. Your sanity depends on you being able to let go of the small stuff and not obsess about whether or not you bring the perfectly coiffed cupcakes to the bake sale.
You start using the "not a restaurant" kitchen philosophy. If you have one, or even two, you sometimes fall prey to the "Well she doesn't like that so I'll make her this instead...." As a mom of three, you stop doing that. You start saying, "This isn't a restaurant...eat what's here or don't eat."
Your boobs go to hell but you make up for it with hawk level vision. If your boobs still look great after three kids you're probably some sort of alien being. Your boobs will be sad but your ability to have spidey sense and eagle eye vision will make up for it. You'll eventually develop an ability to spot what the neighbor's kids are doing in addition to your own. Just happens.
You could beat out a lie detector in catching fibbers You become a human lie detector. They get two words into the lie and you bust them immediately. It doesn't just extend to your own kids....others too.
and finally....
You learn that your teachers and child care help are your friends You tend to be less critical of your kids' teachers and understand that they are in the trenches with you. If your teacher says your kid is being a butt, you don't get on the defensive. You know that stuff happens and the teacher is probably right.
This is only the starter list but suffice it to say that life with three or more is a whole different ball game. It's not exactly an exclusive club (since anyone can join) but it's one that not everyone will fully understand.
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