Co-Parenting: Everyone Wins When Parenting Responsibilities are Shared

Before I gave birth to my daughter, I just knew that once she was here, I no longer mattered. I would come last in the ranking of family members. Of course I was okay with this because I had a new bundle of joy on the way. I was prepared to eat cold dinners, and shower whenever the stars aligned. I knew I might be able to sneak away for a rare five minutes, and that my hair would permanently be in a ponytail. I was okay with all of this.

Little did I know, I was completely wrong. Nya was born via c-section. We were able to come home after two days in the hospital. My husband took the first week off of work. He made sure that I was able to rest as much as possible so I could heal. He is a night owl, so he chose to stay up with her when she was fighting sleep. Nya was EXTREMELY colicky for the first few months of her life. My husband stuck it out and was right there when I needed him. If I needed just a quick 15 minute nap, he helped me in bed and made sure I rested.

Fast forward to a year later, my husband is still the awesome co-parent. Just this past weekend, we went to a restaurant and my daughter got her first kid’s meal. She has had real table food before, but this was hers. Her own personal meal. I was prepared to feed her and take a bite of my food when I had a chance. I knew I was going to eat cold food, but that’s what moms do! I fed Nya a few bites, and took a brief opportunity to take a bite of my own food. When Nya was done chewing, my husband picked up her fork, gave her a few bites and then continued with his dinner. We switched off like this for the rest of our meal. I love how nothing had to be said. We just took turns and our dinner worked like a well-oiled machine. 

It is very possible that my idea of what a family looked like is completely wrong. I grew up with a single mom. Her food was always cold. I just assumed that’s how life is for every family. I am so happy to have this family and things run so smoothly. I’m not going to put on a front and say that there are never any issues with the way things go in our house, but I am chalking up this dinner as a win. My husband and my daughter were able to get full tummies and I was able to get a hot meal in my tummy! WINNING!

Share your co-parenting wins with us!

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