Adultitis is a chronic condition that plunders laughter, burns people out, and turns them into zombie-like doo-doo heads. It causes stress — lots of it. Sometimes it seems like stress and parenthood go hand in hand.
When my wife and I were expecting our first child, I was amazed at how many people came out of the woodwork to give us their advice and impressions on parenthood. Because I travel the country speaking to audiences about life balance and how to cure themselves from Adultitis, I opened myself up to many diverse points of view. More amazing than the sheer amount of opinion we received was the degree to which it varied.
After hearing our program, scores of people informed us that kids were the undisputed cause of Adultitis.
I remember the cab driver who told us that kids are not worth the investment because they grow up to hate you and won’t take care of you when you get old. Considering this little gem came after he admitted he spent most of his time gambling and pretty much drank himself to sleep every night, I took his opinion with a grain of salt.
Other people offered the ever common, “Get as much sleep as you can!” or “Enjoy your last days of freedom!” or the always uplifting, “Your life is over.”
Add to that mix the number of stern warnings about how certain foods or disciplinary techniques or sleeping schedules or brand of diapers can irreparably jack up your kid for life, and Kim and I were terribly concerned that this foray into parenthood was a colossal mistake…
[Read the rest of this article over at Dad-O-Matic, a cool site for Dads, by Dads.]