BY THE TIME your little one reaches toddler and preschool age, they’re well able to tell you what they want. And that’s where the trouble starts, from dealing with tantrums to navigating playdates. That’s why it can be so helpful to hear how other parents are getting through it all.
Our Toddler and Preschool Parents Panel is made up of parents with little ones from 24 months up to age five.
This week, we asked the panel:
What’s one thing you had to stop being squeamish about once you had kids?
Here are a few of the best responses:
All things bum related: The biggest hurdle I have jumped is using suppositories… quite possibly the worst of all the things I’ve had to do so far. It’s more mentally challenging than physically of course… but when proper pain relief is needed ASAP then you just have to roll up the sleeves and get stuck in.
- Michelle O’Brien
Projectile poo hitting you in the face: My three-year-old daughter was a projectile pooper when she was a baby. I would never stand directly behind her when changing her, always slightly to the side. My husband for some reason always stood right behind her and so was always in “the firing line” or “danger zone”. It’s very hard to describe how you are feeling when your tiny baby projectile poops across a room and hits the far wall. Part of you is like, “Oh god that’s disgusting” but there is also a weird sense of pride and kind of awe that this tiny person just pooped a good six feet across the room!
- Deirdre McCormack
Worms – and not the ones you find in the garden: Nothing, absolutely *nothing*, can prepare you for the sight of little white worms wriggling around your offspring’s bottom. The first time we encountered threadworms (courtesy of my daughter) my husband and I were entirely unprepared and traumatised. But we learned hard and fast and have since developed a tried and tested Worm Protocol.
- Juliet Ward
Pre-kids I couldn’t hack the thought of vomit: Several bouts of tummy bugs later (or the plague as we call it), I have been drowned in so many pukes that I just wade on through. The toughest is when its coming out both ends for them. Dealing with that merits some kind of trophy, or a chocolate bar at least.
- Sadhbh Ni Ogain
Plus a couple that are still causing nightmares…
My toddler loves sticking his fingers in my mouth: It’s something he does when he’s looking for comfort. It started when I finished breastfeeding him at five months – I accepted it then as he had cute little fingers that I could keep clean. However he is now 3 and has kept it up for the intervening years… usually without enough notice to scrub those toddler hands. I’ve been doing my best to stop it for a while now, but of course I feel guilty doing so,
- Niamh Doyle
The one thing that still turns my stomach is cradle cap: I can handle the poo and the vomit now, after so many incidents(!), but I something about that scaly dry crusty skin on the scalp turns my stomach. Top tip: Moogoo scalp cream is worth paying for, it works a treat.
- Kait Quinn
I’m still not a fan of scraping mushed-up food off furniture (and myself): One thing I’ve had to get over since having kids is preparing and cleaning up fruit for them. For some reason the smell and texture of most fruits just absolutely icks me out and having to cut the fruit up, never mentioning digging bits of it out from the crevasses of high chairs if the absolute worst for me. Give me a poopy nappy over a smushed up mango any day.
- Kaisu Healy
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