Going to Baby School

Being a first-time mom is a scary thing. You are faced with this great responsibility of keeping a growing person alive for nine months in your body, and then you have to keep them alive when they come out of you as well. It can be a little daunting.

If you've been around a lot of kids in your life or perhaps have experience with children that are not your own, then maybe it is not so overwhelming. But I realized very quickly that I knew nothing about babies. And that was a terrifying realization.

Other than being aware that they are small and fragile, I was a bit in the dark. I knew that infants sleep and eat and poop rather frequently for the first few months. I knew that you were responsible for keeping them happy and healthy and alive for a few years. But just how to do that was a mystery.

Needless to say, I needed to be educated. I needed to go to baby school.

Now there are many ways an expecting mother can pursue information about what she's getting herself into. Some people go to classes. Some people read books. Some people rely heavily on the Internet.

I've never been much for classes or how to books. And the Internet is filled with questionable things on the best of days. So I relied heavily on the people I knew had already been down this road.

This did nothing to wave off the differing opinions and conflicting suggestions, but there was a personal element to it. I was able to take in a great deal of information and then be able to sort through it all at my own discretion.

Some of it I'll pull out later. Some of it I have already dismissed because it is not suited to my plan. And other bits of information have been invaluable.

I still have no clue what I'm doing. I don't really know the difference between one product or another. There are still names of things that have me tilting my head to the side and looking confused. But I have a feeling that I will get there in time.

There seems to be a giant learning curve when it comes to parenthood. Some things will come easily. Some things will be instinctual. And many other things I'll have to figure out as I go along.

People keep asking me if I am ready for parenthood. People keep asking me if I have all my things together. But I don't think anyone is ever really ready. And there will always be something that you forget. There will always be something that you don't know.

You can take as many classes as you want. You can read as many books as you want. You can talk to as many people as you want. But your experience as a parent will be unique. Your child will be unique.

Learn as much as you can, because there is no downside to knowledge. But do not be resistant to the fact that you will learn the most from your child. You will throw the books away and understand that you simply need to listen to what your child wants. It may be different than anything anyone has told you thus far. But, as a parent, you will figure it out.

So don't be afraid to go to baby school. Don't be afraid to listen to other people. And don't be afraid to go your own way with the information that you deem useful.

Ride the learning curve. You will be on it for a long time.