Parenting: It Should Come With Instructions!

I remember becoming a mom for the first time, almost like it was yesterday.  I was nervous, excited and a little terrified all at  the same time; I had this teeny, tiny baby that I had absolutely no idea what to do with.  I remember being so unsure about nearly everything; how often to feed her, how much formula she should get and even how warm her bath water should be, thank goodness I had my mother there to help me, because unfortunately they don’t give you a new parents guide with your little bundle of joy.

As my daughter got older, I became more sure of how  to handle the responsibilities of being a mom, I was a little more sure about the little things, but I was still a little new to the whole parenting thing and foolishly I thought that all you needed to raise a baby was a little knowledge and a whole lot of love.  Turns out, you have to also worry about their futures—and that was something that I was not prepared for.


I remember my mom asking me how I planned to save for Taylor’s college and if I had gotten a life insurance quote—and I remember thinking, “life insurance?  for what?”  Needless to say I had no idea what raising a child was all about; thankfully I had tremendous support from my family and my mom was always there to lend a hand or give advice when it was needed.

Almost thirteen years later I would say I’ve done an alright job raising my oldest daughter; she’s smart, kind, caring and just an all around amazing kid.  I still haven’t gotten that life insurance quote and her college fund isn’t where I’d like it to be, but it’s a work in progress—just like this thing called parenting!