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"Bedtime is me-time". Has this been the line you aspire to saying when your child goes to bed? Unfortunately for most parents, this is only but a dream. Children see bedtime as punishment and that's when they start acting out. Not to mention those long nights when they are not feeling well.
For the mom behind Honest Toddler, this is so true. In her post on Facebook, Bunmi Laditan highlights the sacrifices parents make for their kids and if we had a choice, we'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. She paints the picture of everyone going to bed and just as she's about to unwind she hears her son crying.
She wrote: "Nothing worked and I felt that familiar frustration rising. I didn't want to be here, in his room, battling with the most difficult version of him. I wanted to lie down, read, watch Netflix, or eat something I shouldn't. I deserved it. I only had an hour or so left before I'd fall prey to the sleep that's always behind my eyes. And what if he wakes the others? The only thing worse than one awake child past their bedtime is three in the same predicament."
Parenting is like being an undercover agent. No matter how much good you do or how many sacrifices you make, the world will never know. But it is also one of the most rewarding jobs around. Through all the crying, teething, tantrums, there's that one moment when you child says 'I love you' and nothing else matters.
One of the quotes out of Laditan's post that really stood out for me was: "With children, "goodnight" can sometimes mean, "see you soon" but I feel calm. Whether he wakes up 8 hours from now or in 30 minutes, I'll meet him where he is. After all, that's what coffee is for."
