Sherri and I have been in the parenting “game” for 8 years now. We have five, soon to be six, girls!

We love being parents and wouldn’t trade our life for anyone else’s. We love it.

Part of being a parent is the elimination of fear. There are things in our lives that we used to be afraid of that we no longer fear. For instance:

• Being deluged with bodily fluids: poop, puke, spit, or tears. Gosh, we used to duck, run, and hide from this stuff. Now, we can handle it without taking a break from eating lunch.

• Crying. As a parent you quickly learn to distinguish the “oooohhh, there’s blood on the carpet” cry from the “she took my toy” cry. Young parents, grandparents, and people without children respond quickly with equal urgency to both cries. Veteran parents do not.

• Thuds. Oh it’s grand to watch people jump and carry on when at our home they hear something go “thud.” We don’t move, or blink, and our hearts don’t skip a beat, unless the “thud” is followed by a “”oooohhh, there’s blood on the carpet” cry.

• What people think. Well, that’s not totally true, but it sure is less of a concern that what it used to be. It simply goes like this, people who have kids “get it” and people who don’t have kids “don’t get it.” Every kid will have their “moment” and embarrass the living daylights out of you. They will show a body part, say a word, make a noise, or throw something in such a way as to make you look like a drunken, non-caring, out-of-touch loser parent that just crawled out from under a rock… and people will stare. I used to really freak out about that. Now I just make noises and throw stuff at them. 😉

OK, that’s my list. How about you. What are the things that you aren’t afraid of as a parent?