What Is A Childhood Curtain: My Biggest Regret Of The Pandemic
If you have children today this blog is for you. If you do not, I invite you to stay and read as a warning.
When you have babies your little sweet angels are just bundles of joy that are filled with giggles and poop. Nobody tells you that these little angels will grow up to suck your bank account dry and likely blame you for not preparing them better for hard times.
I learned the most horrifying information when I became a Mom. Mothers, Fathers, and caregivers everywhere have been deceiving us for centuries. Nobody has a single clue about what they're doing. Parenting is literally just a guessing game. Which is a wild statement because as your parents turn into grandparents they will suddenly be filled with knowledge and wisdom they never applied to you when they were raising you. (See, I'm doing it now, blaming parents haha)
When somebody becomes pregnant the most common gift to receive is a book called "What To Expect When You Are Expecting". I want you to know that in my experience that book is filled with fairytales and general statements that don't apply to a having a real human baby.
Nobody tells you that once your cute gooey baby grows up they will rely on you to teach them the ways to manage their emotions, look at you as a guiding beacon of hope, and be the one person with all the answers.
When my daughter was 5 she started asking me questions like "why do we die" or "where does my dad live" the panic really started setting in that I was in charge of a life sized emotional bomb of responsibility. I'm not a psychologist or a tiny persons human resource manager. I didn't sign up to manage anybody's emotional wellness 24/7. At this point I didn't even know what emotional wellness was.
As a parent you are also required to be able to keep your cool with your kids. You should maintain some kind of magic levelheadedness that gives your kids the security to feel safe. Now I'm a safety security guard?!
Where I lived during the pandemic they closed in person school. There was a lot of one on one time at home. My daughter was 9 at this time. She had started asking me where our elf on the shelf was. Her name is Rosie. Where is Rosie? Where does Rosie live? When is she coming back? I would like to mention it was June. Will the lock downs prevent Rosie from coming?! Where will she hide?!!!! None of my answers were sufficient. I ended my interrogation about our elf in one swift moment with an eye twitch and a knee jerk reaction. My snippy answer was "one day when you're a parent you'll know exactly where to hide your kids elf". I quickly realized what I had said and before I could make eye contact with her to apologize she had inhaled and let out the most guttural noise I have ever heard, followed by "YOU JUST RIPPED MY CHILDHOOD CURTAIN OFF".
I didn't know what a childhood curtain was until that day. I realized mine had been ripped off when I caught my mom wrapping Santas presents around the same age. Nobody wrote about this kind of stuff in that parenting book!
I guess the best thing we can do while we are guessing how to parent is to make sure that we love our kids as much as we can. Let them be kids for as long as they are able and if you happen to rip the childhood curtain off...your child will forgive you...eventually.
So my best advice to you is the next time you're giving your friend a baby shower gift, skip the book and give them a personalized Love Naty Designs item that won't end up in a burn pile.
I am also happy to announce today the pre-order of our "Returning Elf Box" is now available. Click the link below for more details!
See you soon!
Love Naty
P.s My daughter gave me permission to share this experience. Izzy, you're my favourite human being :) Lava!
https://lovenaty.com/products/returning-elf-box
