The parents of Reddit recently shared the most important lessons they've learned "on the job" raising kids:
1."The days are long but the years fly by."
2."Just show up, and be there. It will mean so much more than you realize."
3."Kids will test, and test, and test you to see how much they can get away with."
4."I never understood how much stress I put my parents under until I had a little girl!"
5."Kids are weird. They do weird things. Sometimes they stop being weird, sometimes they don't."
6."Do what works for you, until it stops working. Then do something else."
7."Sometimes you have to admit that you were in the wrong or acted irrationally, and you will have to fess this up to your kid and apologize."
8."Your ability to refrain from giving your kid two cookies instead of one can be easily compromised by a hug. It's the little hands on the back of your neck."
9."You can be in paradise, but if your kids are not happy, you will not enjoy it. Happy kids in a crappy place beats cranky kids in an awesome place."
10."If vomit or poop grosses you out... get over it."
11."You will be so tired sometimes that you won't even think about taking a shower."
12."Kids don't listen to what you tell them anywhere near as much as they listen to what you show them."
13."Your kids are going to be who they are and not who you imagined them to be. From a young age. Let it happen and don't fight it. Encourage it."
14."When my son starts behaving in a new and difficult way, I do my best to figure out what's motivating it rather than try to fix it."
15."If you're asking yourself whether doing something makes you a bad parent, you're already ahead of the game. Bad parents don't ask themselves questions like that."
16."Try not to judge other parents. You never know what they're struggling with."
17."At some point you will be that parent you judged before you had kids and it is okay."
18."You will get sick... a lot."
19."Never miss an opportunity to look your kid in the eye and tell them you love them, how proud you are of them, and how much joy they bring into your life. They may not be there tomorrow."
20."Anger never makes things better. But man, sometimes it is so damn hard to keep calm."
21."Being calm and loving to your kid when they are freaking out is vastly more helpful than meeting their anger with more anger."
22."Praise your kids more for something they worked hard at than something they're naturally good at."
23."When it comes to discipline, whatever method you choose, you must follow through or your credibility will be ruined."
24."Your child is different from every other child — this means that what works for you will not always work for someone else and vice-versa."
25."Be flexible in all things. Kids don't care about your idealistic visions of parenthood. They just want to be fed, held, entertained, and loved."
