Life Without Baby

filling the silence in the motherhood discussion

Whiny Wednesday: Parenting is the Hardest Job in the World

Kathleen has been on fire with the Whiny Wednesday suggestions lately. This week’s is a good one, so I’ll just leave it here for you to do with it as you please:

“Parenting is the hardest job in the world”

Comments

  1. This drives me crazy when people say this! I have no doubt being a parent is very hard, but it is not a job, it’s a lifestyle!!! I also hate those things that go around on Facebook with Moms patting themselves on the back saying they are chefs and chauffeurs and nurses and everything else under the sun. We all do these things everyday whether we are parents or not, it’s called living!

  2. Wow! That is a mouthful! Trying to become a parent seemed like the hardest job, to me! Years of going thru infertility and dying to become a parent, besides the sadness I wondered why. And just recently after a Gyn visit, I probably got my answer. I found out that my previous Dr. Had not treated me for an infection, that eventually became treatment resistant. And I was given the wrong treatment for 13 years. This new Dr. Sees me and diagnosis me quickly, and it was an easy fix so to speak. And I have not given my infertility much thought till I got this new information. I am in menopause now, and the ole trying to get pregnant long gone. I can’t help but feel angry for not getting the treatment I needed, and can’t help but think, if I had would I have a different outcome. I always use to think knowing why was necessary, but it never changes the outcome. My husband And I have taken the being parents off the table since our adoption disruption. And overall I have been accepting of this, but when the wound opens it really opens. Thanks for the ears! I will say I definitely feel less unique since coming across this site. and also my new Dr. Is awesome and she just does GYn, a suggestion I got from this blog! Hugs to all of you!

  3. I could imagine *big eye roll and sigh* if only .. there are so many difficult jobs but parents just love getting all the attention for it

  5. No, taking care of someone with dementia is harder. Do you want to know who told me this? A mother.

  7. I think years of Infertility (many miscarriages, IVF, surgeries, relationship stress) is just as hard (& a lot more expensive- we’ve prob already spent equivalent of raising 2 children to at least 5yrs old already), but I may never know?!
    Raising children might be hard, but at least you’ve got ‘something to show for it’- (your family), some of us will only ever imagine what could have been…

  8. Well Im NOT qualified to say that it is or isn’t hard. ugh.That statement usually leads to
    “You don’t understand, you don’t have kids.” True. But you had a choice to be a parent. At least you had the ability to even experience it. That is what comes to mind when parents complain to me. Sometimes I even say it.

    Alot of things are hard, heck! life is hard. You gotta take the good with bad. I’m not saying they don’t have the right to complain. But my goodness you had the opportunity to teach,and mold your own little human. That is made of your genetics, who you felt grow inside of your body.. The list goes on. If it was something as special as being a parent, I’d take that “Hardest” job in a heartbeat.

  9. Its really hard to hear women who have children complain about how hard it is. Its especially hard to hear the ones who know my story complaining. Having someone complain about the thing you want most is like twisting the knife in my gut. I know they can not possibly understand what it feels like, I guess I could give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they think if they complain about it in front of me I won’t feel so bad that I don’t have children myself to complain about myself. Ugh its all messed up.

  11. I came to the site today as a colleague just sprung a surprise announcement on me over the phone – it knocked the stuffing out of me, put a knife in my heart and felt like a tight band around my throat chocking me. I managed my usual “congratulations” and then I couldn’t get off the phone quick enough. It feels as though I have been thrown like this all my life and certainly for the 20 years my husband and I tried – forever trying to console myself and say its Ok. We stopped our journey when I literally timed out (at 48 yrs you cannot be treated with donor eggs at our UK clinic). I thought that I was not being quite so thrown by announcements or triggers of any kind over the past year but I guess it will always hurt. The slight change I notice as I write this and read your posts is that I am not stuck in the hurt – I can breath again and I am thinking about my life. We will not have this expertise and the sadness is somehow a part of me but it will not rule me and I can get back on with my day now that I have seen some understanding from all of you in your posts. A few work jobs to be done here and then I’m finishing early to meet hubby for lunch and help him fix the leak in the bathroom! We will no doubt have a few beers later tonight……. thanks everyone for sharing.

  12. Yeah. Being a parent cannot be the hardest job.
    I hate when mothers say they are taci drivers and nurses etc
    Um, no.
    I was a childrens cancer nurse. That was in the running for the hardest job. Its not about feeding tiny healthy babies and changinf healthy little bottoms
    ..
    Believe me. There are harder jobs than being a parent. Some involve death and children and hudeous drugs and bad news.
    Smug mums trying to pat themselves on the back really need to shut up. Its embarrassing

    • Well said Amanda – couldn’t agree more. love your last line – it actually made me smile, so well summed up!