Tips for new or soon to be parents: Prepare to sacrifice

Before the children arrive, life it bliss. The two of you can go out anywhere, anytime, do whatever you want, eat, drink, party, travel and so on. Life is a big blank page and you have the pens and crayons in any colour you want to draw your pretty sketches. They are neat, tidy and more importantly, exactly the way you want and if not, you have silence, time and energy to fix them.

And then along come the little life-changing beings, cute, cuddly and so darn loud.

The thing about children is that even though they are so little (probably about 1/8 the size of a full adult when they are born), the occupy your entire life. In fact, you have to grow your entire being bigger just to accommodate them. How do you do that? You give up things. You sleep less, jog less, work less, hang out with friends less and so on. That's the only way to squeeze time out from your day to be able to surrender it over to them.

It sounds almost negative, like a part of you is going to be lost and thrown into the abyss that was once your youth. In a way it's true, but life goes on and nature (or is it society) has your work cut out. The era of your carefree life has been left behind and you are now in the mode of responsibility.

Once you stop fighting it and start accepting it as the new norm, your new job, your current role in life, it becomes easy and almost natural. Just stop looking back at what was, and some of your peers might still be there, but accept the now and look ahead to a future with your children beside you, calling you "daddy" and "mummy", and trust me, it is a privilege, not a sacrifice.