Toddlers Are Some of The Best Teachers
The life of a toddler is pretty sweet. They're waited on hand and foot, experience something new every day, and don't have to worry about those chicken nuggets going straight to the thighs. And although a toddler's 24/7 job is essentially to learn, they do an equally great job of teaching us as parents.
Patience
This lesson is pretty self-explanatory for anyone who has a toddler, knows someone with a toddler, or has witnessed a toddler's temper tantrum somewhere in public. (To anyone who has tried to control their overcooked spaghetti-impersonating child when this has happened, I feel you.) Because a toddler is continuously learning, it can be a frustrating stage for them. Imagine being in a country where you didn't speak the language and how challenging that would be to communicate. That can be an everyday occurrence for a toddler, and that's really where your patience comes into play. They are going to throw tantrums when they don't get what they want, which is essentially everything you don't want them to have, or you don't understand them. The communication challenges force you to be the grownup, literally and be patient with them as they grow and learn.
Unconditional Love
Everyone says you don't understand the love you have for a child until you go through the process yourself. You can experience one of the worst days, and when you see that little person, all that matters is that they are happy and healthy. Seeing that smile or hearing that heart-melting "mama" or "dada" erases any negative vibes from the day, if not the whole darn week. With this comes its own set of challenges because all you want to do is make them smile, but as parents, sometimes we have to let them go through frustration and trials to learn. Those days might be ones we dread, but unfortunately, we know they will come.
Sleep Deprivation Survival
The days of college all-nighters and hangover-filled mornings have nothing on what a child can provide. Unless you are one of those parents with a toddler who always sleeps through the night and past 8 am. If so, congratulations because you are a unicorn. It's true that you don't know how little sleep you can run on until you have a child, and I've heard it doesn't go away either. Whether it's middle of the night feedings or teething parties at 2 am, those sleepless nights are the easier ones because as your parents will tell you, "at least you know where they are." The sleepless nights in later years come in the form of different types of parties and some lack of control. Who are they with? What are they doing? Are they safe? Waking up to a toddler whining from the comfy confines of their bed, where you know exactly where they are, never sounded so good.
Flexibility
It's a known fact that toddlers laugh and scheme against you whenever you plan. Let's say it's Thanksgiving and you just bought your little toddler the outfit of all outfits, adorable hat included. You know, it's the one you plan to blast all over your Instagram page, the one you want all the family pictures taken in, it's the outfit. Your toddler knows this and does everything to see if they can switch up things on you, milk stains included. Or remember when you planned to be somewhere after your toddler woke up from their nap, but they struggled to go down and ended up sleeping a lot longer than you anticipated? Yup, planning is funny to a toddler.
Importance of Schedule
Keeping your toddler on a schedule is no joke. You can play it off that you're this flexible, cool parent, but every one of us knows that keeping a toddler's schedule intact can sometimes mean a full night's sleep for you or a morning filled with even larger bags under your eyes. Something about that schedule keeps a toddler in their happiest mood. Meaning, you won't be wrestling a lion into a car seat on the way to daycare, won't need to come up with your best negotiation tactics at dinnertime, and one of the most important things, this might mean you won't be battling that kicking and screaming full-blown temper tantrum in a Target on Saturday morning.
Fearlessness
Most toddlers don't fully understand when they should be fearful. They climb on top of and all over everything, especially when you advise them not to. Yup, what every parent wants to hear. They jump off of things that make your stomach do flips and have no concept of actions they might be taking that can physically hurt themselves or someone else. As an adult, this doesn't mean you should mindlessly throw your body all over the place and think about consequences after taking action, but what you can take away is a more filtered version of fearlessness. No one ever truly grows inside of their comfort zone. It takes a leap of faith to make yourself a better version of you, and who better to teach that to you than the mini version of you?
The toddler stage comes complete with milestones and memorable moments, along with an education for mom and dad. As parents, we might think it's our job to teach our little ones, but if we slow down and take a look at the temper-tantrum, Sophie the giraffe, food hurling-filled world around us, the lessons are there for all of us to learn from.