I know so much of the time we super moms make it look fun & easy. Like having a kid just means building sand castles and watching cartoons. So I just have to say a few words to the childless 20-somethings out there that are just itching to jump on the parent band-wagon. It’s not easy. Really the only ‘easy’ part of having a child is loving that child and even that (for reasons I don’t understand) can be a challenge to some people. The challenges are so numerous, the reality so different from the fantasy, that I dare not attempt to list these aspects. Instead my message to you is this:

Go forth and accomplish everything you’ve ever wanted, dreamed of or given a second thought to. Because once you have a child that, at the very, very least gets put on hold for about 18 years. If you ever thought you might like to take a screen-writing class, or learn karate, or bungee jump - do it now. Don’t wait a second more. Right now, while childless you have two things - the time and the energy.

One thing I cannot emphasize enough is the way time itself changes after you become a parent. It’s as if your life were a record (these round flat things that people used to listen to music on) and it’s cruising along at 33-1/3rpms it’s a nice leisurely pace. On a day off from work, you can sleep-in in the morning, take a shower at noon, eat some cereal while you watch some crap T.V., go shopping for a few hours at your favorite store, then come home and have dinner & some beers with your favorite adult companion (or maybe you have a party night out). Even on a ‘tough’ work day you wake up ‘early’ (what 7:30am?) and go to a job where your just doing your thing, you don’t have to worry about whether your co-workers have a healthy lunch or have to use the potty. You just look after you.

I’m not going to say, ‘here’s how it is when you have a kid’ but here’s a glimpse at how that album change might be. That sweet record you were listening to? Someone just flipped the switch and it’s going 45rpms and the album isn’t reggae music anymore it’s punk rock. There is no longer such thing as a day off from work, now your work is parenthood and that’s a 24/7 job. Sleeping in means waking up at 7:30am and the people around you - who used to be your independent co-workers are now your children and they need meals and diapers changed and if you think you’re getting a shower today, well that’s just if you’re lucky.

Now I don’t want to be all doom & gloom. I happen to love my job (my daughter) and find it quite fun, wouldn’t change it for the world - of course I had my daughter age 29, the perfect age (along with anything after 30 and before 35). However I have witnessed this phenomena of 20-somethings being in a hurry to start families, then over time, regretting it. Ouch. That’s just not fair to all parties involved. There’s no putting the toothpaste back in the tube on this one folks.

So in summation, my message to the would-be parents of tomorrow, wait, go skiing, learn another language, party it up till you can’t party no mo’ and get everything out of your system. Then, when you are truly ready to embark on the journey that is parenthood - embrace it and address it as what it is, the single most important job you will ever do.