If you had it to do over again, would you? Raising kids is hard, there is no doubt about it. I remember sometimes thinking if I had really known what this was like, I might have made a different choice. Usually that was when I was walking the floor for the third night in a row with a teething baby or when my teenager seemed to hate me and everything I stand for, but it all worked out.
For every moment that you think, “What was I thinking?” there are a million more that let you know there is nothing more wonderful than parenting a child. I found that the times when I questioned my decision to have children were also the times that I felt completely lost, sure I was doing everything wrong.
Now that Hailey is eighteen I can’t say that I would do it again, starting now, I’m much too old for a newborn or a toddler but if my fairy godmother came and gave me the chance to do it all over, from the beginning, I would definitely do it again.
I read an article about a man who was stressed out, his wife was pregnant and he wasn’t sure about being a father. The author of the article polled about 100 people and all but one said if they had to do it again they would. One person said they would get a cat. That’s ok, parenthood is not for everyone but it is the most incredible thing you can do with your life.
If I could do it all over, even knowing I would be a single mother and would struggle so hard sometimes, there isn’t one thing I would change. Being Hailey’s mother has made me the person I am and enriched my life in ways I could not even imagine before she was born. Good, bad and sometimes downright ugly, I would do it all over again and again if it meant I got to have this incredible person in my life.