5 Ways Parenting is Like Puberty

parenting is like puberty

The transition to motherhood is eerily similar to another one of life’s “great” transitions. Here’s how:

1. Your Body is Changing

In middle school you got your curves. Post baby, those curves are getting…curvier. There have been moments where I catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror and do a double take. Is that really me? THAT’S what I look like? Stepping out of the shower after weaning my son I caught a glimpse at my “new” boobs. My mouth actually dropped…much like my boobs had.

Thankfully, as mothers we know that our value isn’t found in how perky (or saggy) our boobs are. Our thigh gap doesn’t measure our worth (and thank goodness for that).

2. Your Hormones are RAGING

Pregnancy hormones are one thing, but the crash afterwards is enough to give you flashbacks to your teenage self slamming doors and writing in your journal about how NO ONE gets me! The only difference is that now you wouldn’t dare slam the door – you might wake the baby!

Your poor husband, sometimes all he did was forget to kiss you goodnight and BAM, the hormonal rage starts spewing out. And your parents thought you were a basket case at 13!

Then there’s the crying. So. Much. Crying. You cry when you’re happy, you cry when you are sad. Those parenting highs are SO high, and the lows can feel SO low.

crying baby

As an adult you know that “this too shall pass”. When the baby pukes on you, the house is a mess, that person at work is getting on your last nerve, and you’re all out of wine, you still know that tomorrow is another day. Life isn’t over. Try to explain THAT to a pre-teen after his or her first breakup.

3. You Think Everyone is Judging You

Remember walking down the halls of junior high thinking that EVERYONE was looking at your new zit? Today, you’re sitting at a restaurant, wanting to sink down in your chair and disappear because your child is throwing the tantrum of the century.

Is the cashier judging your grocery cart…maybe you should have bought more fresh veggies. Can you check a text at the park without worrying if the other parents are thinking that you are disengaged? We may feel a different kind of peer pressure, but the pressure to be perfect is still intense.

4. You Want “To Be Different” (But You REALLY Just Want To Fit In)

In middle school we felt so isolated and alone. No one could possibly understand what we were going through. We wanted to be different, but not too different. We bought that pair of shoes no one else had (really we bought the same shoes everyone was buying, but in a different color). We had a unique cool nickname for our group of friends (oh wait, everyone did that?). As much as we tried to be different, we spent a majority of the time just trying to fit in. We talked how everyone else talked, tried to dress how they dressed, and rolled our eyes at our parents because they were SO embarrassing. As parents we still feel those moments of isolation, those moments where we feel like no one else could possibly understand how we feel. We also try, almost humorously so, to fit in.

I can’t post too many pictures on Facebook, I don’t want to be “that mom”.

I can’t let my little one leave the house in THAT, what would the neighbors think?

Everyone else’s kids are _____ (sleeping through the night, walking, reading…you get the idea) already, what am I doing wrong?

We still want to be “normal”. We want to fit in. We want to be just as good as all those other moms. Maybe you’ve grown up and truly don’t care what others think. You should teach me….because I want to be just like you (see what I did there).

5. You Live in a Constant State of Tiredness

go to sleep

Sleep – we all need it, and yet none of us are getting it. I’m convinced that starting the day at 10 am would lead to some outstanding results in middle schools across the country. I would also like to pitch this “late start” idea to my toddler. Somehow, I don’t think either will be happening any time soon.

Allison Brown
Allison grew up in the Wichita area with her husband. After graduating from K-State, they moved to Kansas City for five years. She left her job as a child development and parenting teacher to stay at home with their son, Eli. Their family moved back home to Derby where Eli is growing up close to family. As an added bonus, they also bask in the freedom that is the deepest bench of free babysitters imaginable. Attempting to find their "new normal" in an old and familiar hometown keeps them busy. She loves bargain hunting, making everything into an event (preferably with a theme), taking "an obscene amount" of photos of her son, and sugar.