I’m sure it doesn’t surprise you but all of my friends are having babies. And this shouldn’t surprise you either but we’re not planning on starting a family at least for a while longer. Our excuse is that we’re waiting for Pearson to finish school. To be honest, there are a lot more reasons we’re waiting besides that but that’s another story. I have to admit though, with everybody having kids all around me it’s tough.
So here’s what I’ve experienced lately: On Father’s day, most of my friends actually posted pictures of their husbands instead of their dads. A lot of my friends actually either have two kids or they’re pregnant with their second. Someone in Pearson’s lab, getting a Science PhD from Ohio State, is having a baby next month. People who are much younger than us and even younger than our little brothers are having babies. My cousin just had a baby and my mom jokingly complained that she should have been a grandmother before her younger sister. And someone recently suggested that I throw my birth control pills away without telling Pearson (I think they were joking though).
It’s getting kinda ridiculous. And I know I’m not the only person in this situation so I wanted to give you some tips to handle it.
Table of Contents
ONE || Remember Everyone is Different
TWO || Remember you have a Plan
THREE || Remember God has a Plan
FOUR || Stay friends with your Parent Friends
If you want to keep hanging out with your friends who are parents, you have to make the effort. I really need to start taking my own advice on this. Make plans. Invite them to stuff. Host activities. Be excited to meet their babies. Show up at their house out of the blue. Or maybe call first, just to make sure it’s okay. But stress the fact that their house doesn’t have to be clean etc. You just want to see them and the baby and you know it’s probably easier for you to come over than for them to leave the house. You can’t just sit around and wait for them to contact you like I’ve been doing.
FIVE || Offer to Babysit
I’m sure you do this already because it’s just what people do. “I want to babysit anytime! Let me know when you want to get out of the house!” But you know that never works. They probably don’t believe you’re serious or at least don’t really think about it when the time comes. You have to be intentional about it. That may even look like being so blunt as to call and say “You are going out tonight. I know you like the Star Trek movies so you two are going to see it tonight and I am watching the baby. No excuses.” Or maybe you can offer any night next week and let them pick one or something. And offer to do it for free of course. Because you just want to hang out with the baby, right?
So you see, it’s not so bad to not have kids when everyone else around you is. You can enjoy it with them, be happy for them, live vicariously through them, and know that you don’t have to deal with all the negative parts right now.
Are you in the same boat as I am? What tips would you add to my list?
Thanks for reading!
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