Question about being emotionally ready
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| Sun, 02-12-2012 - 4:49pm |
Hello ladies :)
I know a lot of posts on this board are about being ready for TTC in terms of finances, schooling, weight loss, vacation, medical, etc. etc. We are feeling really good about having all of these accomplishments/stages done in late-2013, which is when we've always talked about starting to try.
So my question now is...how do you define "emotionally ready?" I feel like I switch off every week - one week I'm watching TV shows about babies, eyeing the baby aisle at Target, and totally getting the itch. The next week I have three coworkers tell me about their sick kids or sleepness nights, and I'm so anti-TTC that I consider NEVER having kids! Is this a bad sign for us being emotionally ready, or is this normal? How do we KNOW when we're emotionally ready?
Thanks!
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I think you are emotionally ready when you are willing to take the good with the bad. Talk with your partner about how much he's willing to put into parenthood, so that maybe you won't feel that you'll be doing it all on your own. For example, if the baby is sick is he willing to clean up the mess? If a baby is up all night, is he willing to trade shifts with you so you both can get some sleep?
I'd say it's normal and probably healthy to think about those things.
It's funny that I found this today. I had to go to the Evil Empire (aka Walmart) yesterday afternoon. There was this kid just *screaming* about some toy that he wanted. This kid was maybe 5 or 6 (IMO that is way too old to be acting like that, but since I'm not a mother yet, I don't get an opinion). From across the store I finally heard the mother agree to get the kid whatever it is he wanted. Previously, that would have been enough to make me rethink the kid thing for a few days. This time it lasted until 5 minutes after the kid stopped screaming. I just filed the incident under "things I won't do as a parent" and moved on.
One thing to keep in mind is that you don't know if the child has any issues that might cause the behavior, such as autism. That's not always the case, though, but you never know what that mom might be having to deal with.