An Apt Analogy
Last night, I tried to summarize the concept of parenthood to some single people. It went like this:
Having a kid is just like inviting a little freeloader into your house. He doesn’t pay any rent. He doesn’t buy any groceries. He doesn’t clean anything. Just the opposite, all he does is make things dirty. He poops in his clothes. He eats almost all the time he’s not sleeping. And cries in between. He really doesn’t even recognize your existence–even after everything you’ve done for him. And you have to keep reminding yourself: ‘I was the one who invited him in.’
But then around the 10 week mark he looks at you. Really looks at you. Not at a space two inches above your head. Not at the twirling fan on the ceiling. But at you. Then he smiles. And that “freeloader” analogy is totally blown away.
We like to compare our toddler to taking care of “the drunk guy” – we walk around after her, watching over her, cleaning up after her and apologising to people while she stumbles about, having the time of her life, getting into stuff she’s not supposed to, saying hi to everyone, getting angry, sitting down in the middle of the sidewalk and refusing to walk – and then she hugs us like the drunk guy does at the end of the night with that inevitable sloppy “I love you guys.”