And they delivered.
#1
Bored Panda contacted the author of the post (who wanted to remain anonymous) to learn more about what inspired them to create it in the first place. "I think I was talking to a child-free friend about working from home during lockdown and how my husband and I found it quite challenging since the day care (which we usually use) was not an option and taking care of a 2-year-old is a full-time job as is, let alone when you have your 9-to-5 job with it," they said.
#2
"She was completely shocked since she wasn't even thinking about it that way. She enjoyed working from home and was able to organize her time well, while using this whole lockdown thing to catch up on all the books she never had time to read. Then I was shocked," they added, jokingly. "It just became clear to me how our conceptions differ depending on our life choices, and I instantly remembered unsolicited pieces of advice about parenting (not from this friend), as well as some benevolent comments which clearly show how parenting really isn't one of those things you can have a preview of."
#3
Naturally, the author of the post also had misconceptions about parenting when they were child-free. At least for the newborn stage. "I didn't know babies needed to learn basically everything. Like, I thought breastfeeding comes to them naturally, meaning it's not challenging for a mom at all. Then I had my daughter who literally needed to learn how to suckle."
"When I first heard about babies 'rolling onto their tummies', I didn't know that was something they needed to learn. Of course, I know they won't be able to sit, crawl, etc., but I never thought that turning your body is something that's acquired. There were many misconceptions," they explained. "I learned they weren't the case at all by having my baby."
#4
The Reddit user wasn't expecting that the post would get so much attention. "I didn't have the time to read all of the replies but I had more than a few good laughs and I also learned that us parents need to be there for each other. It's hard for others to understand [what we're going through], so judging each other is really counter-productive. Also, even though I've started my post by stating that it shouldn't be about how child-free people were rude (just clueless), I have received a couple of really ill-meaning comments where parents saw judgment regardless of the fact that there probably wasn't any."
I guess the bottom line is that people who had huge misconceptions about parenting expanded their horizons. And gave the Internet a good laugh. That's a win-win in my book.
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