Parents Are Sharing Photos Of Themselves Before And After Having Kids, And The Difference Is Hilariously Sad (30 New Pics)

The Instagram page has over 88K followers and was founded by Mike Julianelle, proud father of two and blogger at ‘Dad and Buried’. Mike explains how it initially got started.

It was based on a ‘ten-year challenge’ that was going around on Twitter at the time—one picture of you from before, and one ten years later. After posting his own version and making a joke about parenting, one of his followers asked if Mike would share their one too.

The page started accepting submissions and it was a big success. You can see that many people have similar experiences of their life changing by becoming a parent. There’s the dads who were tough guys, rock-stars and party animals, but have now mellowed out after gaining more responsibility. And the younger, dolled-up versions of moms who have discovered that life with kids isn’t as glamorous as before. 

It’s not all bad though. Children bring so much into our lives at the same time. I wanted to learn more about what makes toddlers in particular so special.

Bored Panda spoke about this with Dr. Ashley Söderlund, a developmental psychologist and founder of the Nurture and Thrive blog. Dr. Söderlund said, “Toddlers live in the moment and appreciate the little things in life. They also wear their hearts on their sleeves. You never have to question how they’re feeling!”

“All of that emotion is what makes this stage so challenging as well,” she explained, “as the parts of the brain responsible for emotion regulation are still under construction in the toddler years.”

We also spoke with Nicole Schwarz, a mom, parent coach, and founder of the Imperfect Families website. Her first book, ‘It Starts With You’ is a guide to parenting children with a calm confidence, and is available for pre-order now. 

Nicole agrees with this and told Bored Panda, “Toddlers see the world with a sense of wonder, everything is new and exciting. It’s an explosion of growth and learning – physically, socially, mentally, and emotionally.”

There’s big emotions for both adults and children alike. So, how should parents keep their own feelings in check when their little ones are having a meltdown?

Dr. Söderlund gives this advice to new parents: “One thing I find that helps is shifting your perspective on emotions.”

“Instead of controlling emotions, acknowledge them. Emotions are not bad, nor do they need to be controlled,” she explains. “When your toddler is angry that you cut their sandwich in the wrong shape, say: ‘Wow, you sound mad!’ Acknowledgment helps toddlers learn to label how they feel and gives them words to express themselves.”

There’s definitely a lot of great things that kids bring into our life. Perhaps the best of all is becoming like a child again ourselves. Adults can sometimes forget what it means to have fun.

Nicole puts in well in her talk with us. “Slow down. Play is the language of kids. Be silly, sing, play!” Nicole told Bored Panda.

Dr. Söderlund also encourages us to enjoy everything that our children do too. She said “The wonderful thing about toddlers is their pure expression of emotions. The next time your toddler stops to smell the flowers, or watch a butterfly, allow yourself to slow down for a moment too. And when they express pure joy about that flower or butterfly, let that joy fill you up as well.”

And you can also see that kids are fun, little people. They love to play, climb and explore as part of their development in early life. And they love to do all this with their parents too.

It seems that young kids can’t go a moment without mom and dad. So, this high energy and constant need for attention can be challenging (and exhausting) at times. Parents have to ensure that their curious kids aren’t doing or eating something that they shouldn’t. There’s no doubt about it—being a parent is difficult. 

Trying to get kids to see things the same way as adults is impossible. I asked Nicole why this is and she said, “Kids don’t share your sense of urgency and they do not understand the importance of tasks like ‘going to work’ or ‘running errands’.”

She explains, “You understand that being late for work will make you lose your job, but in your toddler’s world, there is unlimited time for play!”