Forget pictures on cigarette packs – stick some on boxes of diapers!

As you know, we here at Lil Worker Safety Gear are all about safety. With that in mind, we’re launching a monthly column called (doo, doo, doooom) . . .  “Danger of the Month.”  

In these monthly articles we’ll explore all the things that life sends us to test us and our kids—buttons, chewing gum, Sasquatch, gravity . . . you get the picture. Yup, it’s a dangerous world out there. So, hey, why not take help when it’s offered, right?

But before we start in on the myriad threats and perils that loom over our offspring, let’s focus on the root cause of them all—parenthood.

Parenting: Great Expectations or Bleak House?

Ahh, parenthood. It’s awesome. It sucks. It’s the best of jobs, and the worst of jobs. Talk about your winters of discontent.

Okay, parenthood technically isn’t a danger, unless you count the potential damage to our sanity or sense of self-determination. But it sure is a challenge, and these days more than ever.

Back when I was a kid nobody was right there with me, smartphone in hand, grabbing clips of me driving the family car on my dad’s lap (unbelted, obviously). Social pressure simply didn’t exist in the way it does today. Share a picture of your kid not wearing their bike helmet as they scooter around the backyard and you’ll feel the heat on Facebook. I’m not saying that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but it’s a thing.

And, yes, I know that as long as there’s been parenting, there’s been judging. (Did you see the club that Grok gave Kanto? He’s so not ready to hunt sabretooths yet.) But back then, the village really did raise the child. Nowadays, you raise the child and the village tweets about it.

Forget kids surfing the web—have you seen the damage something like Pinterest can do to your self-esteem? And you thought you’d be okay because you used to own a “Bedazzler.”

Oh, it’s a scary world out there alright.

What can we do to make the world safer for parents?

First of all, don’t judge others. We all have our own style and that’s okay. Remember that old adage, “If you haven’t got anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”? Yeah, that works for everyone, not just kids.

Second, don’t judge yourself. You’re doing the best you can. You’re trying. We learn from our mistakes, and after you make them you can try again tomorrow.

Face it; if you’re a parent, you’re screwed. You’re committed to keeping your kids alive and relatively happy for the next 20 years (or more . . .) and then you’re just supposed to let them go and mind your own business until you get a phone call. At three in the morning. From Bangkok.

There’s absolutely no winning in parenthood.

Except wait a minute . . . we’re parents, aren’t we? That means that, despite our complaints, our stained shirts and our lack of any modicum of a social life, we’ve also experienced some of the greatest joys that life has to offer. Sure, there are low points, but they’re invariably interspersed with bouts of pure exultation and unbridled pride.

Maybe we’ve already won.