Being a parent is many things: wonderful, rewarding, hilarious, embarrassing, exhausting, expensive, exciting and more. Raising children is a huge responsibility, but it allows a person to shape the next generation and to experience childlike wonder through the eyes of their little ones.
While it’s completely understandable that parenting isn’t for everyone, it’s important for those of us who do choose to start families to be appreciated and understood. And what better way is there to feel seen by other parents than to read about their hilarious and relatable experiences online?
To learn more about the hilarious experience of being a parent, we reached out to mom and co-founder of In the Playroom, Anna Marikar.
Anna was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda, and she shared that a sense of humor is a necessity for moms and dads. "As rewarding as parenting is, it’s also hard work, so a good sense of humor will help to see you through the difficult days and the times when you’re exhausted," she noted.
We also asked Anna if it can be helpful for moms and dads to share their embarrassing and hilarious parenting moments online. "As long as you don’t embarrass your child, it can help to share," she says. "I wouldn’t recommend posting things like embarrassing pictures of your child that they will come to resent when they are older, but some of the cute and relatable funny moments can definitely help to connect us with other parents and realize that we’re all in the same boat."
Anna even shared a funny parenting moment from her own life with Bored Panda. "Something that cracked me up recently was that I left my 7-year-old daughter at home with her older brothers (teenagers) just to pop to Costco. But obviously she must have been missing me, because when I came back to the house she had covered all the doors with homemade missing person signs saying 'Have you seen my mum? Her name is Anna. This is what she looks like' - so dramatic!"
And if any new parents out there are feeling overwhelmed with the responsibilities of being a mom or dad, Anna has some wise words for you. "We all feel overwhelmed going into this. You will learn as you go, and no matter how many kids you already have, you will never stop learning," she shared. "As long as you are trying your best for your kids and doing everything from a place of love, you will figure it out."
If you'd like to hear more parenting advice, be sure to check out In the Playroom!
For a previous article, we got in touch with mom and creator of Mommy Cusses, Serena, to hear what inspired her to first start posting about her experiences as a mother online.
“It really was a ‘laugh so you don't cry’ type of thing,” Serena says. “I was depressed trying to be the ‘perfect’ mom for a long time. And then one day I ran across a funny parenting tweet, and it was such a relief. I thought ‘I want to do this. I want to make other parents feel less alone.’”
Parenting is clearly full of hilarious moments, but Serena says, “The funniest parts are when your kids are old enough to start showing their little personalities.”
“They say and do the funniest things, and it's a weird Dr. Frankenstein moment where you're like, ‘I created this…’ The low-brow potty humor is also superb,” she added.
According to Serena, being able to see the humor in any situation is also a must when it comes to being a parent. “You absolutely need a sense of humor,” she previously shared. “Having kids is very humbling, and they relish in airing out your dirty laundry to strangers and narrating what you do in the public restroom stall to any other restroom patrons.”
Serena also believes it’s crucial for parents to have spaces where they can share their experiences with one another. “The first few years of my first child's life I really tried to be perfect and it was exhausting,” she says. “I was struggling with postpartum depression and anxiety and didn't even know it because those things weren't being talked about much. We have to show the underbelly of parenting sometimes, not to scare mothers, but to let them know it's okay if/when they experience it.”
Serena also shared a funny story that she had recently experienced. “My 5-year-old just started a pre-k program they're doing at the elementary schools here, and every day I like to ask if she's made any friends, how her day was, etc. Last week she turned the tables on me and asked if I talked to any other moms at pick-up, ‘You know, like did you make any mom friends?’ And I cracked up. She wasn't being a smart alec, she was genuinely curious. But I'm an introvert who struggles with anxiety, and chatting up new people isn't one of my strengths.”
