Drowning in a Lake like a good parent

 

When my son was first born, I couldn’t explain the feeling of being a new parent. It wasn’t until a year in that I kept scrambling to explain how it feels when this visual came to me…

Parenthood in the absence of outside help is you drowning in a lake while holding your baby above your head while everyone is partying on the shore. 

“Boats” will come up to visit and they will stay in their boat. 

Take pictures of you drowning with your kid. 

Throw presents at you and leave. 

Never jumping into the water to BE with you. 

And then you get that one Angel of a person, who will dive out of their boat to get in the water with you. They will take your child and tell you to get in their boat to rest. 

Those are the gems. 

I have told this visual to my friends with kids under the age of 12 and they all said whoa that is accurate. 

The family that comes and sits on the couch while you scramble to take care of your kid and now them too. And feed them?!? 

Or worse yet, the ones that take selfies of themselves dry and impeccably dressed in their boats with you in the water drowning with your little one. 

Today, “how can I help.”

Those four little words mean all the world to a new parent. 

Photo credit