5 Parenting Life Lessons

What was supposed to be a happy holiday weekend turned into the weekend from hell. The stomach bug attacked our entire family, including our relatives staying with us.

Seriously guys, I WANTED. TO. DIE. Basically everything I consumed over Thanksgiving weekend AKA the one weekend in the entire year where you gorge yourself, was the one time my body decided to get rid of everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. I will spare you the gruesome details, but I am sure you know exactly what I am talking about. 

There was one point where I was deliriously rolling in my bed and I remember thinking to myself, Matt, take me to the hospital. I need an IV and a morphine drip! (I suppose an additional silver lining is I already have a head start on losing those 10 pounds I aim to lose every New Year! Ha.) The last time this happened to me, I had no children, and the thought of having children while being incapacitated by illness has always horrified me.

Well, I definitely have children now, and Matt was deathly ill as well, so there were no reinforcements once my in-laws left to battle their own bout of the stomach bug (which was a GODSEND having them here.) To make this story even more fancy and dramatic, Wes broke out in hives all over his entire body during the chaos. He legitimately looked like a leper — the hives covered about 60% of his body. And he had double ear infections! Luckily, Luke only had a little cold, but that still makes you feel crappy when you can't take any cold medicine. 

Side story: A rather boisterous pimple decided to grace my face with its presence during all of this, and Luke came in one morning while I was sleeping. I woke up to his little voice saying, "Good morning, momm — oh noooo. You got an owie on yo face! Did you shut yo face in da door?!" 

I laughed so hard. Best morning greeting I've ever received in my life, even if my almost three year old totally dissed me. I replied, "No, I didn't shut my face in the door. I just have a big zit."

Luke decided he didn't like that answer and said back to me, "Mommy shut yo face in da door." It was a very matter of fact transaction, so we left it at that.

I was able to glean some insight based on all of the nastiness that has been lurking in our house, and we learned some very important parenting life lessons in the past three days. They mainly pertain to parenting life lessons when deathly ill, but useful, nonetheless. So, I feel it my parental obligation to share it with you, the internets.

1. Make sure you ALWAYS have a clean supply of towels, blankets, and pajamas. I do not care if you suck at laundry and can't ever manage to keep up with it. Whatever you do, just ensure that those three things are consistently clean and available. Everything else can be modified to work, but nobody wants to lay on a pile of clothes because someone forgot to wash the towels and blankets. And nobody wants to wear their jeans and a fitted tee because their pajamas are in the wash. Trust me on this one. Towels, blankets and pajamas were my saving grace this last weekend.

2. Keep Pedialyte, Gatorade, and crackers stockpiled. I mean, stockpile that junk like the gastroenteritis apocalypse is coming. If my in-laws weren't here, I am convinced we would have died of dehydration. Seriously. In the amended words of Scarlett O'Hara, I will never go thirsty again!

3. If you don't have an emergency babysitter or contact (and you don't live near family), you should probably get one, like in the next five minutes. Really though. I know, I know it's one of those, "I will do it tomorrow!" to-do things that gets pushed back until it has been months since you initially said it, but you will be happy you did when an emergency strikes. Or the flu.

4. Don't obsess over having a flawlessly clean house and making sure the chores are perfectly done. Like not doing the laundry because the clothes aren't precisely sorted out by colors, or not loading the dishwasher because the dishes aren't placed in their exact spot. I have mild OCD when it comes to these kinds of things, and it has made bigger problems for me in the long run, specifically when sick. Sometimes you just gotta throw everything in, organized or not, and just get it clean. The world will not end, I promise.

5. Television, smartphones and tablets can be your best friend. I don't think it is good for little kids to spend an excessive amount of time in front of the screen every day, but I do think it is helpful for them to be able to sit down and watch a show, especially when it is needed. And here is the way I look at it — our children's generation will not know what a world without smartphones and gadgets will look like. I think it is wise to get them adapted with how these things work since they will obviously be a part of their school work, jobs, and lives, but it is our job to teach them how to use them with discipline, and not let it overtake their entire life. Does that make sense? And by the way, being able to throw on PBS on the iPad all day while you are literally puking out your guts is an excellent distraction, and I do not feel the tiniest amount of guilt over it.

That all being said, I wish you good health and good fortune the rest of the year! Also, you can see previous life lessons here and here. (And cringe at my outfit choices. Do you ever look back at old photos and think to yourself, What was I thinking?! Good thing I decided to post it publicly on the internet!)