When you have children you learn basic things, such as taking care of your kid, changing a diaper, how to get an itsy bitsy onesie on an itsy bitsy baby, and so forth. However, there are some life lessons your kids will teach you that you may not have anticipated. These are some of the things motherhood has taught me:

Patience

Before you say “I already have loads of patience,” let me tell you, no you don’t. You do not have patience until a small child screams uncontrollably for three hours at night, and all you can do is hold them and hope they calm down so you can go to sleep yourself. Patience is when you are trying to perform a task that would normally take about ten minutes or less and has now dragged on for over an hour because your toddler does not feel you should be doing this particular thing.

Functioning on Little to No Sleep

I use the term “functioning” very loosely here. You are going through the motions of the day in a zombie like state, but nevertheless can perform some basic functions. Remember when you were in college and were able to go out partying until three or four in the morning, and then go to class and work the next day without missing a beat? Yeah, having kids is a lot like that, except there is no party and a lot more is expected of you. Fortunately this phase only lasts the first few months, after which, with any luck, your child is sleeping through the night for the most part.

Plans Do Not Count

I have to admit, this is still a lesson in progress for me, but I am slowly catching on. A little planning can in fact go a long way. However, for the most part, kids have a way of derailing even the best laid plans. They do not do this intentionally, and it does not necessarily happen all the time, but there are those occasions when you were planning on being somewhere at a certain time, or even going somewhere at all, and your child just would not allow this to happen (he puked all over himself and now you are late, she woke up with a fever, your babysitter cancelled on you and your destination is not kid friendly, etc.). You will eventually learn to just go with it.

Your Life Is No Longer About You

This is pretty self explanatory. In fact, if I even have to begin explaining this one, you are not ready for kids.

What have your kids taught you?