Parenting is a piece of cake!

Hold up.  Before you assume that I am on crack because of the title of this little entry you need to read it first.

Whilst on the aforementioned trip to Disney World I was forced to witness the many different parenting styles that were on display there.  Everyone has their own way to "handle" their children and while I'm not saying that there is only one right way I most definitely witnessed some wrong ways.

Have you ever baked a cake?   There are several steps that one must follow in order for the cake to turn out properly.  You need to pre-heat the oven, prepare the pans, mix the proper amounts of ingredients.  If you don't, you are not going to end up with a cake.  If you don't bake it long enough, if you bake it too long, there are so many different factors that play a role in whether or not you are going to end up with what anyone else would actually call cake.

I will say that whether it is from scratch or from a box, while still a factor is not important you still get cake, and Cake....good.

Parenting is the same way.

You really need to prepare yourself in order to properly parent a child.  It isn't something to dive into willy nilly.  If you are a person that is all about you and your Saturdays where you sleep until noon and you like your "me" time, well, then parenting is not necessarily for you.

A child is a responsibility.  Your responsibility to make this world a better place.  If you bring a child into this world it then becomes a part of the overall flow of the universe.  How you choose to raise that child is up to you no one else.

Let's say you spoil that child, giving that child everything you never had in order to compensate somehow in your mind for all that you missed out on.  Let's say you don't create a barrier of responsibility for that child and you just "fix" all of their problems for them.  What have you created once that child leaves the nest?

How about if you neglect the child?  Always sending them off to be cared for by someone else because you are way too busy with other important things that your child just doesn't understand.

What about making this new little creature your friend?  Having them do all the things you do to make them "cool", laughing at things that they say that are highly inappropriate for their age, and dressing them with clothes and gadgets that are way above their current need.

I'm not sure who put "have a child" on some master list of life musts.  Having a child is a completely wonderful experience.  I will say that the raising the child part is way harder than I ever dreamed possible and some days it takes everything I have to not run away screaming I don't want to do this any more!!!  I am very lucky that all I ever wanted to be was a mom.  I wonder if all I ever wanted to be was  a doctor or astronaut and I was now a mom, how I would be feeling.

You are no longer number one on the list of importance.  Somedays you might not even make the top 4.

Parenting is hard.  It has its joys and it has its hardships, but if you are diligent and parent purposefully you will end up with a wonderful product that you are proud to send out into the world.

Back to our cake for a moment.  Let's say you didn't pay attention to the ingredients or the oven temperature or any of the details that actually went into baking the cake, when it comes out of the oven are you going to be proud of what you have to send out into the world?