Like Jumanji, parenting is a fantastical cinematic adventure that seems implausible, but is best enjoyed with a large bowl of popcorn and other tasty snacks. That’s not where the similarities end. There are a number of ways parenting is just like this classic family favourite.
The morning after the first night your baby sleeps through
It’s more than what year is it, it’s who am I, where am I and who replaced my kid with one who actually sleeps through the night. To be fair, you can’t expect a baby to count sheep when they don’t know how to count yet. There is nothing quite so refreshing as the first uninterrupted slumber of a new parent.
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Parenting Books – Some More Helpful Than Others
Ok, so lots of it sounds like mumbo jumbo but the fact that someone thought to write about it means you aren’t the first one to go through it. That in itself is more comforting than weird swaddling diagrams that look like they might double for ikea furniture assembly instructions. You’re either going to have a comfy cozy baby or a coffee table you can’t pronounce.
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Feeding time can get messy
Like REALLY messy. My couch is going to be used one day as an anthropological study of snack foods of the 21st century and that’s just the mess since he’s been big enough to eat finger foods. I remember the epic feeding mess at the mall when I ended up completely soaking through my nursing bra and t-shirt until it looked like I had been hit by water balloons in some freak random attack. So unbelievably awkward.
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Going shopping becomes an adventure
It’s definitely harder to grocery shop when you have teeny tiny company with many opinions, mostly around cereal selections. Kids do not excel at waiting. My kid complains bitterly about how far away I park from the store in the parking lot but begs me to take him hiking. On the plus side, he always seems to have coins for the grocery cart, while I never do (in retrospect, those two facts may be more closely related than I first thought.)
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Everything Changes
Like Jumanji, parenting is also a game for those who seek to find a way to leave their world behind. Everything changes when you become a parent – but in a good way (as long as you aren’t super attached to grocery cart change, that is).
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Parenting is an adventure where you never know what’s going to happen next. You just have to roll the dice, hold on tight and pass the snacks (just don’t drop them in my couch!)
Have you watched Jumanji with your kids?
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