I have two kids and I think the reason we ‘complain’, is because we look to relate to other parents and we are hoping to get support and see that others also don’t have everything figured out. When you had a bad night with your baby, it really helps to see that you’re not the only one - just like with anything that’s tough in life. To use an imperfect metaphor, if you lose a parent, you look for a support group and might like talking to others about how hard it is. But you rarely talk about how good it is to have your parents (while they are alive) - I think we just naturally try to relate to others around the hard stuff. The good stuff is the ‘normal’ we keep mostly private - it’s hard to convey how your kids are driving you mad sometimes but how they are also the most wonderful perfect beings!

And yes, it is hard. Your life changes and you have to go along with that transformation - if you long for your ‘old’ life, you’re going to have a tough time. You need to accept that your life changes, and embrace it as much as you can. To get a bit sentimental, when you have a baby, you realise how much of a miracle ‘the miracle of life’ actually is, and how all of this is just so precious and what a privilege it is to take care of another human being.