Just Wait
There’s a phrase all too often said to new mothers, and that’s “just wait.” “Oh you think morning sickness is hard? Just wait until the baby is here, you’ll be so much more exhausted.” “Oh you think having a newborn is hard? Just wait until they start teething.” “Oh your teething baby kept you up? Just wait, you don’t even know tired until you’ve had two.” Seasoned mothers use this “just wait” at every stage. Not only is it rude and unsympathetic to a mom who is struggling, but it completely invalidates their feelings. And also, it isn’t true. Pregnancy is hard. Newborn stage is hard. Teething is hard. Every stage of motherhood, from trying to conceive to dropping your baby off at college, has its challenges and difficult moments. And if you really want to, you can look at parenting as a series of hurdles to be overcome, from one challenging stage to the next. But what a negative approach to take, when in reality eighteen years is going to go by in the blink of an eye. So what should w
