This is a short podcast based on a post from a few months ago, I hope you like it!
I have a distinct memory of seeing my niece sneeze and produce two long strands of snot that reached all the way to her lips. She briefly looked stunned, but then she smiled, and laughed, and then she ate it. I love my niece and all, but this made my stomach turn.
This involuntary reaction stands in stark contrast to how I react to my own son on a day to day basis. No matter how dirty he gets, or how much vomit or poop I clean up, nothing is important to me than making sure that he’s okay. It was as if a switch had turned in me, and I’ve become immune to the things that normally would have grossed me out.
I was definitely someone who found children to be “difficult”. They were always disrupting my equilibrium.
I liked my peace and quiet. I liked all my things where they belonged. And I was certainly that guy who rolled his eyes when a parent brought a child on a flight. I always judged when a child would cry out, or have a tantrum in public. And I particularly disliked when children would touch my things with sticky fingers.
People always said that it was different with your own child. But, I never believed this, but something really did change in me when I became responsible for another human being. My perspective on my prior grievances has totally changed, and the intensity of my reactions has been tempered.
We take great pride as people for our various preferences and attitudes, and they can sometimes feel eternal, but I have changed in response to the very real demands of parenthood, that much is undeniable.
I think our capacity for change is much greater than we give ourselves credit for.
Episode 2: Sticky Fingers