How Parents Grow Right Alongside Their Kids
Parents are not really 'grown ups.' Parents are growing and adapting to change just as much as their children are. In fact, when children come into our lives, everything in our life has to grow with them, including our living environment.
A one bedroom flat is fine when you're single and dating, but when your first child is born, it is far too small. That's when you start looking for a larger place to live or even looking into buying your first family home.
The cheap compact car that you relied on for years was adequate for your infant, who could still fit into a graco snugride infant car seat. When the infant grew into a ravenous toddler, though, it just couldn't cope with carrying both a family and a huge stack of groceries.
You will probably outgrow your first house, too. While the bedrooms were fine for your child when he was five or six, when he gets older, it begins to look more like a closet. Your plans to sell the house and buy a bigger one were shattered when the economy took a dive. It looks like you're stuck with what you've got for awhile, at least.
Before the bedroom becomes intolerable, look at ways to make the most of the space that is there. A loft bed is a perfect way to add space to a bedroom. If you were wondering how you were ever going to fit a study desk into an already crowded room, this elevated bed is the answer. The computer desk can go under the bed. Children love to sleep in lofts, too, so he won't be complaining about the change!
There are hundreds of parental 'how to' books on the market, but when you look at them, they really aren't much help. Our lives are all different and we have to come up with many of our own solutions to life's problems. Whoever said, 'the only constant in life is change' was a very wise person!
If you are the parent of a teenager, the personal computer and internet probably didn't play as large a part in your upbringing as it does in the lives of teenagers today. While there may have been many similarities in your teenager years, there are many differences, as well. As a parent, you have had to keep up with the changing times and grow even as your children have grown.
Being a parent is a lot like being on a thrill ride where you don't know what's coming around the next corner. In other ways, it's like attending university and you have to be constantly learning. Bake yourself a cake in your heart cake pan. You deserve a valentine!
Filed under Avoid Divorce, Marriage Issues, Relationship Problems, marriage problems by on May 1st, 2010.