Baby Bootcamp

Taking care of a newborn is a lot like the military's basic training. I can say this because I have done both. In both situations you are deprived of sleep and food (no one actually deprives you of food in either situation, they just don't give you any time to eat it) and in both the purpose is to break you down and destroy your concept of what your life is so that it can be replaced with a new one. This analogy helped me a lot in the difficult first few weeks when I realized another similarity: just as basic training is a short part of a military career, so the newborn stage is a short part of being a parent. I think I am a better person for having both experiences, but I don't think I will necessarily look back fondly on either of them -- I like to have a little bit more control over my life.newborn baby infant mother motherhood parent parenting military basic+training bootcamp