This mom has gone viral for talking about the not-so-great perks of being a parent.
Motherhood is a magical experience for many and pregnant moms anticipate the day they become a mother. Everyone has their own perception of motherhood and one mom is sharing all the things she thought she'd enjoy as a mother, but eventually found out wasn't as fun and it's eye-opening many. She went viral for unearthing the not-so-great perks of being a parent, and many fellow caretakers couldn't agree more. Hayley DeRoche, aka @sadbeige, went viral after she posted a video listing what she thought she would enjoy about motherhood; however, as it turns out, she did not.
"A list of things I thought I would enjoy as a parent that I do not," she began. At first, DeRoche admitted that family dinners were not what she thought they would be before she had kids. "I thought it would be a lovely bonding experience at the end of the day. Jokes on me because it is not," she said. "Imagine inviting multiple wild mongooses to your dinner table. They're ravenous, and immediately full because they do not like what has been placed on the table." Our understanding of family lunches and dinners is derived from classic rom-com films. Real life is not the same as Hallmark movies.
Second, DeRoche discusses travel, pointing out that after becoming a parent, vacations become trips. You could be in Timbuktu or Niagra Falls, but you are still a parent. "You will be vacating your sanity," she quipped. "Otherwise all of the normal frustrations of parenting will be coming with you." DeRoche also added that the kids might relax between 10 and 11 p.m., but it's hard to last that long yourself because of the exhaustion.
If you scroll through Instagram, you might see pictures of parents hiking with their children. Those might be some core memory moments for any parent, but DeRoche thinks it is overrated and boring. "You know how fast you can move on a trail with a child who does not want to be hiking? Imagine if a glacier thousands of years, millennia, and that glacier is faster than the pace that you will make on this hike," she said. "I have had some success with the Hansel and Gretel method where you take some of your trail mixes, and you just drop it along behind you and the child will eventually catch up because they want to catch up to the M&Ms. But yeah, otherwise, do not recommend."
DeRoche then moves on to the infamous "reading anything aloud" from a parental perspective. "I do not enjoy reading graphic novels of "Dog Man" aloud because it's just dialogue. So, it is confusing for everyone involved, including me, frankly. It's just, I don't know, it's not enjoyable,''" she admitted.
Lastly, DeRoche touched on the challenges of baking with a child. Baking is fun, and when Kylie Jenner bakes with her daughter, Stormi, every Christmas, it appears to be a great bonding experience. However, when you try to recreate that moment in your house, everything goes south, and suddenly, the kitchen is on fire, and DeRoche is all too familiar with this. "Uh, imagine, if you will, a flower factory just exploding in your house, okay?" she said. "And then wild wildebeests."
Fellow parents commented on DeRoche's videos with their own stories and expectations they had about parenting. "Vacations. It's just me, keeping my kid alive in a non-baby/kid-proofed house for a week. The STRESS is real," said @sunnybutnottheweather. "I spent my entire pregnancy and the 1st year of my son's life looking forward to spending time in the kitchen together. I hate it so so much," shared @whitneysimpson83. "I always read that family dinner is important and then it’s always a cluster and exactly as you described. Lots of complaining. Little eating," wrote @straightsunshine.