Parents for Life

By Regina Clark

I know our show is called “Baby”time Expo, but I have a thought that I would like to share. Being a new parent of children 4 and under can be challenging, I must say. However, parenting never stops. Once you make the decision to have kids, you are a parent for life.

I am the mother of a daughter who is about to turn 15 and a son who just turned 12. I can tell you that the challenges do not get easier they get different. I can remember when the kids were little and I told them to do something and they actually did it. One day I told the kids to pick up their toys, that it was time to clean up. My son, Ryan did it but my daughter, Rachel continued to play. Ryan looked at Rachel and said, “but Mom said!” These days Mom has to say about 10 times to get the result I want. The teen years definitely come with challenges. You just have to love them through them all.

Parenting is a full time job and although our concentration is on the 4 and younger crowd, I just wanted to say that we as parents face challenges with older kids, too. Don’t worry newbies, it isn’t that bad. It’s something to look forward to. We are all in this together. That’s what our show is all about: “helping parents know and children grow”. And grow they do into teenagers! We ARE parents for life.

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