1 year Down, 6 decades to go

After the hoopla of the birthday party, we started to get back into the groove of things around the house. Cleaning up the kitchen, i needed to make space on Gabe's "shelf" in the cabinet, so i commenced to bagging up the bottles and the beginners sippy cups and then it hit me : 1 year, this is only the beginning!

Now i know to most my ah ha moment should be a duh moment but i'm sure there are many parents that can relate to this feeling. To know there will be many more birthdays, first day of school, first girlfriend, first kiss, first tackle..lol ok, first of many tackles if my husband has anything to do with it. But it puts into perspective the responsibility you have to your children and just how long the commitment really is.

I made a joke to my husband, that when a woman tells her man " I want a baby!" his first response should be "OK, do you also want the 60 years after?". So many people get so caught up on the first year novelty of having children that they seem to forget that the baby will grow in to a toddler, to a child, to a Tween, to a teenager, to a young adult, to adult.  I have been witness to parents objectifying their child, grandparents doing all the raising as they party, even in horrible circumstances parents cursing at their children. It always leads back to the question, why bring them to this world if all you plan on doing is neglecting and introducing them to a hell that they can't understand?

Me and my husband sat down and had many conversations about having children; how we wanted to raise, discipline, educate and relate to our children. One thing is for certain, we fully embraced the fact that our lives as we knew it would change forever. We took it on as a new adventure except this one would last for a lifetime and finally we had someone other than each other to experience it with. So we don't go out and drink and party but we do have family night boxing with the wii while Gabe is cheering mommy on ;0)

Children are a lifetime commitment and from what i can see from our own experience thus far they can change your life if your willing to change. I'll leave you with an ideal that i picked up from a Unschooling mom named Sandra Dodd, Woman are more unhappy as mothers when they try to divided themselves, part of them as mom, part for themselves..in the end one or the other will be unhappy either her or the children. Embrace your role and give yourself to your children; their happiness should always be all that matters now and 6 decades away.


RoxieLuv

If you would like to check out her blog and her take on Unschooling her site is below!

http://www.sandradodd.com/

Gabe with Mommy at lunch 1 year old :0)

Gabe only a few hours old :0)