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Parenting

07th May 2021

#ToBeHonest: I wasn’t a ‘kid person’ at all until I had my own child

Melissa Carton

I never would have described myself as a ‘kid person’.

Despite being the eldest of my siblings and one of the oldest grandkids in my family I never baby sat growing up or changed a nappy before becoming a parent.

I knew at some point I wanted to have kids but I wasn’t someone who went gaga over babies or loved chatting with young kids.

To be honest I worried a little bit that I wasn’t going to be a good mother once I had kids because I didn’t really like interacting with other people’s children.

Then I had my own kids and things changed.

I had my first child in my early twenties and I was a little bit at a loss.

As I said above I had never babysat, never changed a nappy, never made up a bottle, never winded a baby, just completely clueless.

Out of me and my partner, he was the one with the baby skills.

Of course I figured out all that stuff over time, my eldest is eight now, but one additional thing that I didn’t notice was that becoming a parent made me more at ease around children in general.

I no longer panicked when a small child came up to me for a chat (yes I used to literally panic) and I also knew when to help out my fellow parent instinctually (‘you need a hand with that pram up those stairs?’)

I also became less judgmental of parents dealing with temper tantrums as dealing with them myself made me realise even good kids can have bad moments.

I get it when a parent friend of mine needs to cancel plans last minute because their child feels ill or they can’t get a babysitter (I’ve had people hold these things against me and it’s not a nice feeling).

I’ve gained a knack with kids that I honestly never thought I’d have.

I’m no longer running out of the room when someone is passing around a newborn and like anyone who has had a whiff of ‘new baby’ I would very much like it to be developed into a room spray or candle (come on Jo Malone).

Parenthood changes us all in different ways and I guess this is just one of them. Saying that, because I breastfed my kids I’m still pretty shite at making up bottles.