Parental guilt

I just overheard some folks talking about preparing for a new baby and it reminded me of something that happened to Cindy and I while she was pregnant with our first child.

We were trying to be as prepared as possible and, in addition to taking birthing classes at the hospital, we were also taking CPR classes that were aimed at expectant parents. We thought we were well prepared (of course, you never are - at least for your first child) and then some of the other people in our class were talking and the father said that they had a whole closet filled with boxes of disposable diapers. Cindy and I looked at each other and we both thought, "Should we do that?" Our first brush with parental guilt and our son wasn't even born yet.

As we thought about it, we realized it was silly to take up too much space in our home for boxes of diapers. It's not like we wouldn't be able to get out to buy more diapers when we needed them. Having enough to last a few days was good enough unless we were expecting a snow storm or a hurricane and neither was coming. There would be more "guilt trips" thown our way in the coming years but at least this was one we didn't have to worry about.