Parenthood creates a unique dichotomy: it is very, very difficult, but extremely rewarding. I have never had a harder job. It's hard in the early months, especially. As the baby grows, old challenges disappear but are replaced with new ones (mobility, handling emotions, etc). But along the way, there are things that make it worthwhile, like breastfeeding, being able to play with baby, teach baby, watch her develop into a little person, etc.
The jobs you listed are not as difficult because a) they all pay $$$, and b) presumably one does not have to do them in 24-hour shifts!
nothing has ever been harder in my life than the transition from pregnant to first time mother. NOTHING. i have done all sorts of jobs, ranging from working ridiculous long hours overnight at a physically demanding shipping/receiving job, to social work, to working in fields summers as a teenager. it's not even comparable, in my opinion.
even the hardest jobs are for pay. and like in social service jobs, as heartbreaking as they are sometimes, you do go home at the end of the day. you have days off and weekends. service industry sucks and is really hard, but again, you aren't there all the time.
for me, hands down, the hardest time of my parenting life was in luna's first 6 months of life. she needed to be held virtually 24 hours a day. i didn't lose much weight after she was born, and my body image was really horrible. i felt fat and ugly, i was depressed, and i had this needy little baby attached to me constantly. my nipples were sore, i wanted to scream every time she latched until she was almost 3 months old, i had an internal hemorrhoid that made pooping excruciatingly painful, plus my husband lost his job and we moved across the country back into my mother's house. i was also so terribly afraid of something happening to my baby. she was so tiny and fragile. i obsessed about how much she nursed, i worried about her weight and growth constantly. and yes, i had undiagnosed PPD.
however, watching her grow and become her own little person almost breaks my heart some days, in the best way possible. i watch her do new things, i watch her at her little dance class or getting the confidence to do taekwondo, and it just slays me. she is so small and delicate and yet she is strong and her own self. she knows her letters and numbers and makes up ridiculous games, and loves me to read her chapter books. she asks thoughtful questions and makes fantastic art, and she's not even 5. there's just no comparing this experience to anything else. it demands so much, especially, i think from mothers, but what it gives is just indescribable.
(of course, she's not a teenager yet, either. so the worst could be yet to come.)
The first few months (hell, first year) of motherhood was such a blur that I honestly don't know how I got through it with my sanity. Like others said before me, there's no ordinary job that has the level of stress combined with sleep deprivation and physical recovery from giving birth/being pregnant/nursing that compares to taking care of a newborn. The physical component is way more intense - and takes longer - than people who haven't been through it can even imagine.
The work environment that we came from was toxic, so it was more difficult than the first few months of parenthood. Now that I'm a parent to a preschooler and a newborn, I've learned that parenting a newborn is easier than parenting a toddler/preschooler. Becoming a new parent is difficult and stressful but the experience is completely different for every parent. I'd have to say it is much harder for parents that have high-needs children.
For me, the newborn phase was by far the hardest. Preschool was a cake in comparison. I really hated having a baby who cried and had no way to know what exactly they wanted/needed, and who woke up every few hours.
I put no to your first question because I don't feel as if I am parenting just yet. I think the harder part is to come in another month or two where LO's personality takes shape, where we as parents introduce her to different things. Right now it's physical needs to be fulfilled - feed, clean and shelter and tonnes of cuddles and kisses.
But as she grows, we help guide her through rights and wrongs, do's and don'ts and that's what I see parenthood as. And yes, then I think it will be hard!
And I think being a parent is the hardest job there is with no vacation days nor sick leave you can take nor one where you can leave the stress at office and come home to relax!
My husband says he doesn't feel being a parent just yet, as I am the one taking care of her physical needs. He says he is enjoying the perks of it as he goes to work, comes home and plays (although he does a lot more than he gives himself credit for). So he thinks his job is more stressful. I however, put down that parenthood is harder for him, as it's been harder for him to accept that he is a father now and we have to adjust to a slightly different lifestyle!
Early parenthood is the hardest thing I've ever done and parenting a young child is the hardest thing I've ever done. Parenthood is harder than anything else you'll ever do in your life. I can't speak for the difficulty of any of the jobs you list because I've never had one of them, but I can't imagine every single one doesn't pale in comparison to parenthood. And, as someone above pointed out, you can quit any job - you can't quit being a parent.
I don't think it's fair to compare a job with a lifelong change. We're all different. What one person considers difficult another would consider easy. It's comparing apples & oranges.
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The jobs you listed are not as difficult because a) they all pay $$$, and b) presumably one does not have to do them in 24-hour shifts!
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even the hardest jobs are for pay. and like in social service jobs, as heartbreaking as they are sometimes, you do go home at the end of the day. you have days off and weekends. service industry sucks and is really hard, but again, you aren't there all the time.
for me, hands down, the hardest time of my parenting life was in luna's first 6 months of life. she needed to be held virtually 24 hours a day. i didn't lose much weight after she was born, and my body image was really horrible. i felt fat and ugly, i was depressed, and i had this needy little baby attached to me constantly. my nipples were sore, i wanted to scream every time she latched until she was almost 3 months old, i had an internal hemorrhoid that made pooping excruciatingly painful, plus my husband lost his job and we moved across the country back into my mother's house. i was also so terribly afraid of something happening to my baby. she was so tiny and fragile. i obsessed about how much she nursed, i worried about her weight and growth constantly. and yes, i had undiagnosed PPD.
however, watching her grow and become her own little person almost breaks my heart some days, in the best way possible. i watch her do new things, i watch her at her little dance class or getting the confidence to do taekwondo, and it just slays me. she is so small and delicate and yet she is strong and her own self. she knows her letters and numbers and makes up ridiculous games, and loves me to read her chapter books. she asks thoughtful questions and makes fantastic art, and she's not even 5. there's just no comparing this experience to anything else. it demands so much, especially, i think from mothers, but what it gives is just indescribable.
(of course, she's not a teenager yet, either. so the worst could be yet to come.)
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But as she grows, we help guide her through rights and wrongs, do's and don'ts and that's what I see parenthood as. And yes, then I think it will be hard!
And I think being a parent is the hardest job there is with no vacation days nor sick leave you can take nor one where you can leave the stress at office and come home to relax!
My husband says he doesn't feel being a parent just yet, as I am the one taking care of her physical needs. He says he is enjoying the perks of it as he goes to work, comes home and plays (although he does a lot more than he gives himself credit for). So he thinks his job is more stressful. I however, put down that parenthood is harder for him, as it's been harder for him to accept that he is a father now and we have to adjust to a slightly different lifestyle!
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