What does it mean to you to be a parent?

Stress, worry, responsibility, and pride.
It’s all worth it.

It has taught me patience, allowed me to actually grow up while still sometimes acting like a kid, given me the privilege of watching someone go from baby to independent adult, taught me how to let others find their own path, brought me joy and pride in the accomplishments of others, allowed me to learn skills and become involved in activities I would never have been interested in if it weren’t for the kids, and been the hardest job I’ve ever had to do.

I never could have imagined the emotions brought on when becoming a parent…
I lost even more respect for my mom.
I learned I am a hell of a lot stronger than I ever gave myself credit for.
I learned that so many things in life are really not that important.
I learned a new kind of love that an infinite amount of words could never fully express.
**edit accidently sent it too soon**
I felt overwhelmed with the things I needed to learn
I felt driven to become a better person
I felt excited to learn from my son

I could go on and on and on and on… I love being a mommy, it’s the best thing I’ve ever been called.

The tremendous joy of watching babies turn into young adults. It meant I had to grow up but yet stay young. It means I never think about my needs first. It means being patient beyond all reason and being angry beyond all reason. It means worry the likes of which I never knew was humanly possible to survive. It means great joy, great pride, great humility and great sacrifice. It means I carry the enormous responsibility of striving to turn out into the world two compassionate, aware, responsible, fun, loving, open and generous people.

Having children gives your life purpose. Right now my purpose is to get some sleep.

I don’t know a damn thing about being a parent, really, just like I don’t know how to go about life in general. Most of it gets made up on the fly. I’m a few steps ahead of my kids on this wonderfully mysterious adventure, so I can alert them to some of the pains and pleasures I’ve come across, but the adventure has to be their own. The odds are good that they’ll negotiate it better than I have anyway, so I try to be sparing with my counsel.

It’s a huge temptation to live through your kids. Our love makes us see them as an extension of ourselves, and there’s certainly a sense in which that is true. But failure to let them be other than what we want is a tragic mistake. I try not to picture what my children will become, or even what I want their next move to be (they’re both young adults at this point). I often feel the urge to reach for the tiller, so to speak, but I try to resist.

Maybe I just got lucky, maybe fate thought it best to entrust me with not-very-challenging offspring, but despite this somewhat nebulous notion of parenthood, my kids seem to have arrived at the threshold of the nest as well-adjusted and as well-equipped for adult life as anyone can hope for. That’s more to their credit than to mine, the way I see it.

I echo what many have already said. Is is an enormous responsibility…both to my children and to the world as a whole. The entire point, every minute of every day, is to turn out good human beings. I consider it my greatest challenge and my greatest joy.

The buck stops here.

Bad day to ask. My son is of his meds and my daughters and hubby are bitching about him behind my back. It’s tough.

I just had my first and it’s amazing she’s only a month old, and I’m learning so much from her already and she’s grown so much in such little time. I can’t wait until she grows up I know that it will be hard at times though.

Essentially i think its giving up putting yourself first in life in order to guide someone else successfully into a healthy happy life of their own. Constantly seeking to enrich their life first and not your own.

↑ you worded that perfectly!

It means I never have to get off the couch to get something from the refrigerator.

thanks adri027!