There are some truly beautiful moments to experience as a parent as your kid grows up. In addition to that first time you have a full conversation and hear their thoughts and feelings about stuff that isn't just "I want more cookies" or "I'm sad TV time is over," there's also stuff like when your kid learns to read and the world comes to life for them. You'll be driving down the road and they're looking out the window going "dad, that sign says Vancouver. That's a city, right? Can we go there? ...dad, that shop says boba tea. What's boba?" It's really amazing to notice what they notice and help them feel confident and safe moving through the world through reading.
It will be hard and exhausting at the beginning because our society decided to section us off into easily exploitable small family units, so you don't have all the help and support communities of humans used to have. The kid will scream and cry and hit their sibling and shit their pants at an inconvenient time. But also there's just kinda endless joy and beauty in being a parent too if you treat them like a full human their whole lives. Your job isn't to control them. It's not even really to mold them. It's to keep them healthy and safe while they grow into whats authentic and true for their own being.
The first several years you are just trying to keep them alive and teaching them to communicate. At some point you notice the conversation becomes less parent and more friend. You feel proud and a little sad as you are excited for them advancing but they are not little little anymore.
I do really love the way toddlers view the world. Everything can be super exciting, the best part of the day can be dandelions and counting stop signs.
This is why I fucking love being a parent to teenagers. The potato stage was NOT for me, they drive you crazy wanting to breastfeed all the time, crying about everything, and never ever sleeping. Sheer unremitting drudgery, intoxicating baby smells notwithstanding.
Every minute since they became actual humans capable of telling me what's up (i.e since about age 4-5), has been a precious blessing and a miracle. It just gets better and better. One kid has now launched and dear god I feel lucky to know that delightful human being.
My son, who is now 7, has starting making jokes and razzing me. It’s funny, but also made me realize his cognitive abilities are growing. He can make nuanced jokes and connect things together satirically, which is just so cool.
A while back we went over to my kids’ friend’s house to play cards against humanity family edition together with their family. My older kid was maybe 7-8 at that time and in playing that game I realized how funny he was. Like, I knew he was funny around our house but some of the cards he played were soooo good. He crushed the rest of us, and it felt like such a parental level up.
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u/Sea-Being-1988 7h ago
This seems really interesting. Wanna elaborate for a 24 year old guy?