The Hardest Stage of Parenting

By Kelly Hines

The hardest stage of parenthood is when your children are newborns. All they do is eat and poop and cry and they can’t do anything for themselves. You are certain you will never sleep again.

The hardest stage of parenthood is when your children are toddlers. They’re into everything and eating everything, including everything they’re not supposed to eat, and no surface is safe from their grubby, grabby hands.

The hardest stage of parenthood is when your children are preschoolers. Their motto is I CAN DO IT and sometimes they can’t, but tell them so and risk unleashing a monster. They are equal parts charm and insanity, and there is no reasoning with them.

The hardest stage of parenthood is when your children are in elementary school. They’re trying hard to sit still when all they really want to do is play. They struggle (and you do, too) with independence. Don’t dare call them a little kid, even when they’re crawling into your lap to snuggle.

The hardest stage of parenthood is when your children are in middle school. Hormones make a tween a crazy person. They have the body of a young adult and the decision making skills of a 4 year old. They will make you beam with pride, until you discover the boogers they’ve wiped on the wall.

The hardest stage of parenthood is when your children are teenagers. All they want to do is get away, and, sometimes, you wish they would get away. You try to reconcile their increasing freedoms with your own overwhelming fear. You are tempted to kick them out the door, then scramble to pull them back in and never let go.

The hardest stage of parenthood is when your children are grown. When you stop being number one on their speed dial, and days go by when you don’t even know what they’re doing. When they talk about their ‘family’ to other people, and you realize they’re not talking about you.

The hardest stage of parenting is the one you’re in right now.

The good news is, it’s also the easiest.