{"id":273,"date":"2012-05-22T11:05:20","date_gmt":"2012-05-22T17:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/samuelrainey.com\/blog\/?p=273"},"modified":"2012-05-22T11:05:20","modified_gmt":"2012-05-22T17:05:20","slug":"11-step-program-for-prospective-parents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/samuelrainey.com\/blog\/2012\/05\/11-step-program-for-prospective-parents\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Step Program for Prospective Parents"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A friend posted this on their Facebook profile today, and I found it incredibly funny and true. Enjoy<\/p>\n<p><strong>11 Step Program for those thinking of having kids<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Lesson 1<\/p>\n<p>1. Go to the grocery store.<br \/>\n2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.<br \/>\n3. Go home.<br \/>\n4. Pick up the paper.<br \/>\n5. Read it for the last time.<\/p>\n<p>Lesson 2<\/p>\n<p>Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>1. Methods of discipline.<br \/>\n2. Lack of patience.<br \/>\n3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.<br \/>\n4. Allowing their children to run wild.<br \/>\n5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child&#8217;s breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.<\/p>\n<p>Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.<\/p>\n<p>Lesson 3<\/p>\n<p>A really good way to discover how the nights might feel&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)<br \/>\n2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.<br \/>\n3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.<br \/>\n4. Set the alarm for 3AM.<br \/>\n5. As you can&#8217;t get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.<br \/>\n6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.<br \/>\n7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.<br \/>\n8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.<br \/>\n9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)<\/p>\n<p>Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.<\/p>\n<p>Lesson 4<\/p>\n<p>Can you stand the mess children make? To find out&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.<br \/>\n2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.<br \/>\n3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.<br \/>\n4. Then rub them on the clean walls.<br \/>\n5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.<br \/>\n6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?<\/p>\n<p>Lesson 5<\/p>\n<p>Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.<\/p>\n<p>1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.<br \/>\n2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.<\/p>\n<p>Time allowed for this &#8211; all morning.<\/p>\n<p>Lesson 6<\/p>\n<p>Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don&#8217;t think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don&#8217;t look like that.<\/p>\n<p>1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment.<br \/>\nLeave it there.<br \/>\n2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.<br \/>\n3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios on the floor then mash them with your feet.<br \/>\n4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.<\/p>\n<p>Lesson 7<\/p>\n<p>Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week&#8217;s groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.<\/p>\n<p>Lesson 8<\/p>\n<p>1. Hollow out a melon.<br \/>\n2. Make a small hole in the side.<br \/>\n3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.<br \/>\n4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.<br \/>\n5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.<br \/>\n6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.<\/p>\n<p>You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.<\/p>\n<p>Lesson 9<\/p>\n<p>Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you&#8217;re thinking What&#8217;s &#8216;Noggin&#8217;?) Exactly the point.<\/p>\n<p>Lesson 10<\/p>\n<p>Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying &#8216;mommy&#8217; repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each &#8216;mommy&#8217;; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.<\/p>\n<p>Lesson 11<\/p>\n<p>Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the &#8216;mommy&#8217; tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A friend posted this on their Facebook profile today, and I found it incredibly funny and true. Enjoy 11 Step Program for those thinking of having kids Lesson 1 1. Go to the grocery store. 2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office. 3. Go home. 4. Pick up the paper. 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