Before I was a parent, I can honestly say I gave very little thought to the time period between ages 6 months and 5 years. Everyone always said things like, "Oh, being at home with kids was the best time of my life!"; "It's such a sweet stage!"; "Enjoy every minute, it goes so fast!" Now that I'm in that time period, it sometimes seems awful, frantic, stressful, and so so so slow. Not that there aren't periods of joy and awesomeness, and I am extremely thankful and I feel exceptionally blessed. But happy? Not always. And, like this video points out, it seems to be taboo to say so. I've even had honest people refer to this time period as "the dark days" of their lives. Where were these people before? Hiding behind the very real taboo that saying things like this would make them out to be horrible people and even worse parents. And I know that not to be the case from how much they truly love their children and have sacrificed, loved, and brought them up in immeasurably good ways.
I agree with the idea from the video that saying these things and being open is the best path to all of us raising the happiness quotient of our lives. After all, I always do better when people validate my feelings and encourage me on, rather than lie about their circumstances (not that everyone who's happy is lying...just most of them. ha ha). Anyway, please take a minute (or 17) and watch this video and leave your thoughts as comments.
Here's the link to the video:
Let's Talk Parenting Taboos
