Oh Joy.....

Ask any parent and they'll tell you the same thing. The question is asked time and again and the answer never changes. "So what's it like to have kids?", there's a distinct pause before a "It's definitely an experience" reply. And it is. It's an amazing, wonderful, difficult, stressful, tiring, worrying, funny, crazy experience. It's a package and as with everything in life, it comes with the good and the bad. There is nothing more fulfilling than hearing a stomach laugh from your tiny creation, or having them imitate you on the phone when they can barely talk. However, there is nothing more irritating than wanting to sleep and having to sit up with a teething child or changing the stinkiest nappy known to man.

But one thing all parents are all in agreement on is that its all worth it. I've come to work too many times to count wishing that I could close my eyes for just five minutes but I think of a little girl at home getting the sleep she missed out on and I find myself pushing through and finding contentment in that thought. Uma Thurman was recently quoted in the news as saying "Motherhood can be difficult", I couldn't help but let out a chuckle at that. Understatement? I think so. But it's something that people won't understand until they experience it for themselves.

Uma goes on to say that she tries to remain "steady" in front of her children and I couldn't agree more with that concept. I was raised in a household filled with nervous tension and it's something I've carried through to my adulthood. I'm a wreck in certain situations and I think if there is one important lesson in all this, it's that life is just too short to be a worry wart so don't impart that onto your children. It takes a concerted effort, but it can be done.

As human beings, I believe we are constantly learning and growing and when you have children, that learning rate is accelerated. And the amazing part of nature is that a human being that is barely a year old can teach you more than the most distinguished professors in the world. Learn from your children, embrace them, love them, teach them and above all enjoy them. They are the future.