What are some of the things you haven't done until you became a parent (excluding childcare + rearing)?

I watch way more cartoons. Sometimes my kid won’t even be here and I’ve watched 2 episodes of Spongebob before I’ve realized I can watch whatever I want.

I am baffled that this q has one response and my other q has like a million, lol. I’m going to go shamelessly promote it on the other q.

Needed coffee to exist.
Desired time alone.

Yes, I also help mommies when I can, as does my husband. I also am even more sensitive to the needs of children. I’ve always worked with kids, but I now understand motives and behavior that much more.

I clean more. I mean, I cleaned before, but being a parent made me insane about it. That’s about it. I’ve spent most of my life raising other people’s children, so there wasn’t a lot of room for change in that respect.

As for me, I am quite a bit more tolerant of other peoples bratty kids. As all we parents know from experience, the do not come with a user’s manual or an off button.

Actually, when I was a young adult, I really didn’t like kids at all. Now, I totally appreciate them.

I never sounded like my OWN mother before I became a mother. Now, I find her voice in my head and her wisdom and threats coming out of my own mouth. shutters

It’s weird, but I’m less tolerant of bratty kids now. Before I was more lax and liked kids, now I see how well mine behaves and when I see a kid running amok or acting horrible I just stare, or, if they’re personally bothering me, I glare.

@redfeather – When I say “bratty kids” I am referring to the normal squirms of a kid who is generally bored out of their skull. As for running amok I remain pretty intolerant. I expect a certain level of social etiquette from my kids and expect the same of others.

Alas, as we all know, the little buggers totally have a mind of their own… ;)

—@YoBob I don’t think those kids are bratty, they’re just squirmy. I’m talking about the kids in the pool who splash, take my daughters toys, and ask me stupid questions. “are you wearing a bathing suit? Is that your kid? (pointing at my tan, obviously Latin mother then at my very white baby) are you her babysitter? Do you speak Spanish? How old is your kid? How did she turn 2?” those were all asked at my last pool visit. The whole time I was staring at their parents like “uhhh grab your freaking annoying kids.” and the parents were just sitting there and not doing a damn thing. And those little girls were in 3rd grade. I knew better in 3rd grade.

I never corrected a child I didn’t know until I became a parent. I fact, I don’t think I ever talked to a child until I became a parent. I was afraid I would do something the parent would object to. I was particularly afraid I would say something inappropriate. Like I would treat them as a thinking person, where most parents, I believed, saw their children as property.

Number one would be understanding a whole lot of things about my own parents. It made me feel much more charitable toward them.

I was the eldest in my family and a girl, so I did a lot of babysitting at home and outside. I’d done most of the normal child-care stuff long before I had my own kids. But one major novelty was having decision-making authority over someone else’s life. Having pets might be practice for that, but it doesn’t feel the same.

I never followed sports until my son showed an exceptional interest in baseball from age 18 months through age 16 years, when he finally realized he wasn’t major league material.

Getting really mad at my wife. And vice versa.