Unsolicited: Parenting Stories and Advice

I knew some day your runnin' would be through And you'd think back on me and you And your love would be strong You'd forget all about the bad and think only of all the laughs that we had And you'd wanna come home When You're Alone - Bruce Springsteen In this moment in time, the "me" in this song is me and the "you" is being a stay at home mom.   I've been in a similar position before and I should have seen these feelings coming.  I'm going back to work full time next week and my time as a stay at home mother is coming to an end (for now).  In the space of a day, I've gone from loving, but disgruntled employee to Head Reminiscer.   This is a common pattern of mine. I instinctively remember only the good and none of the bad.  When I think of high school, I think of seeing my closest friends every day and not of almost failing biology.  When I think of college, I think of studying in my favorite library carr...

The worst day.  The day where no one wants to nap, it's raining out, and the toddler just threw their 17th tantrum about juice.  The day when the playground is closed, the coffee line is too long to wait in, and the baby will just not get their act together and learn how to efficiently crawl, voting instead for being carried everywhere.  The day when you couldn't sleep the night before, you ran out of milk, and the husband isn't home yet and it's waaaay past closing time. The worst day. We have all been there.  The day that we thought would never end because it just kept going and going.  On these days, parenting feels like the worst of all possible worlds.  You're connected to this teeming mass of need at least until they are 18 and you keep wondering, "What about me?  Where do I figure into all of this?"  These are the days and feelings that people don't like to talk about because they are so raw. And there is so much guilt.  There is gu...