I was asked to write this post as I am perceived to be an expert at motherhood. Flattering, but it made me laugh out loud.

I can picture it in my mind. Three little kids standing at the playground having a discussion.

Kid 1: “My mom left me in the swing a lot when I was a baby. Apparently, she chose showering and eating over me.”
Kid 2: “Yeah? As a baby, my mom forgot to clean the rolls in my neck until I started to smell”
Kid 3: “I have you all beat. My mom let me eat dog food.”

Kid 3 has blonde hair and green eyes. How do I know this? She’s mine.

After having my first baby, I went a little mental. Everything had to be perfect. I had to be perfect- The perfect mom.
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Welcome to motherhood. One day you’re slinging your purse over your shoulder to run and meet a friend at a moment’s notice. The next day you’re slogging 20 lbs of baby, carseat and stuff out the door – if you even get off the couch from cluster feedings.

This shift in lifestyle is the part that most people don’t talk about. And for those of us who love to be social and out-and-about it’s quite a shock.

Venturing out of the house the first few times as a new mom can be daunting. Trying to time naps, feedings and the inevitable poop-up-the-back. Be easy on yourself, but don’t let that stop you from getting out. Consider a one-hour outing a success. Heck, walking around the block is a win too.
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Being a mother is one of the most amazing things a woman can experience.

It doesn’t matter if you adopted or birthed your child…it doesn’t matter if you are a caregiver who sends the child home to mom every day. Those of us who are blessed and entrusted with the care and keeping of a child – well, we get to experience miracles every day. The miracles of those first steps, the discovery of snowflakes, of stories told, and memories made. There are the hugs filled with love, shrills of laughter as you push them on swings and the moments spent quietly watching them sleep. I wouldn’t give up this gig for the world.

But as we all know, there are two sides to every story.

Along with all the wonderful memories are a few that we’d like to forget.

As a mother of 3, stepmother to 1 and dayhome provider to many, many more – I have compiled quite the list of memories I’d rather not have.

So for all the would-be parents out there, or soon-to-be moms and dads…I’m going to tell you what no one else will. I don’t know why these things are unspoken of before someone has children…because it can’t be just me who has had these experiences.
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May’s NextGen Speaks Out! theme will be Motherhood

 
It’s May and Mother’s day has rolled around again. Mothers (of all varieties – Step-moms, Grand-moms, Bio-moms, Adopted Moms, etc included) have a large influence on us and our society. We want to take the opportunity to recognize and support the mothers in our lives and in our community by celebrating them not just on May 13th but all month long. This month we’ll be asking our bloggers (who are also all mothers themselves) to expand on the theme by sharing their stories and resources, and relating their experiences and opinons in a way that only a mother can.

Whether you are a parent, an expecting parent, or still savoring the child-free way of life, we hope our bloggers will provide an interesting, humourous, and enlightening (or perhaps eye-opening) peek into their lives. They might expose you to new information that you hadn’t heard about before, provide comfort in the knowledge that you aren’t alone, inspire you to make a small change to your own routine or encourage you to suggest resources to others.

We also want you to engage in discussion. Come on nextgener’s we know you have opinions and thoughts on these themes too. We’d love for you to comment, start a discussion, and share these posts with your networks.

Check back weekly as we will be adding new NextGen Speaks Out! posts regularly. We’re looking forward to it and hope you do too!

Disclaimer
NextGen Speaks Out, our guest blogging series, is envisioned as a hub for information and discussion. NextGen is a non-political, non-denominational organization focused on giving all nextgeners a voice. NextGen does not represent the opinions expressed by the individual columnists.