#sybme comics

Yeah... child labour is wrong. Papaya and I met when we were teens so we didn't actually talk about kids! There were odd "Aw it'd be nice to have kids" or something like that but never a sit down serious talk until we were in late twenties. In hindsight I can see how we dodged the bullet there. Luckily we were both 'could do with it, could do without it' types. I am now a strong believer that if you know you want or do not want kids, you need to tell your partner as soon as possible. Even if you're on the fence, you let them know and you can gauge how important this is for them. It's a deal breaker for sure. You can't force someone to have kids when they don't want one, and you can't force someone to not have kids when they want one either. Of course the main thing is that sometimes you're not 100% sure! And that's okay! I was 60-70%. I was open to having kids. I think my thoughts were "Yeah? It'd be nice?" I know some people say "Unless it's F*** yes, I want kids, don't have them," but I think the important thing is you feel empowered to make that choice. Like no one forced me to have a kid. When times were tough, I never felt resentment towards my partner. I never thought "You made me do this" or "My parents made me do this". Instead it was "Oh damn. This is tougher than I expected!". I've seen circumstances where one person thought they could convince the other person, or just assumed they would change their mind. And... unfortunately it didn't work out. So yes! Did you feel strongly about having a kid? Or not having a kid? I hope the conversation went well! It can be really scary to bring it up and good on you for doing it.

Of course. I need to really remind everyone of this. Parenting can be something that I've found to be very divisive. The fierce love we have for our kids makes our brain freeze and go on the defence. Just because I've done xyz, doesn't mean other's experience is invalid or not as good. Please note that whatever I did in my pregnancy and parenting, I've done what I believed was best at the time, within limits of my resources and my mental health. That's all I believe parents can do. Just their best at that given time with what you have. I'd love to know what others did differently, and how it works for them :)

Welcome to "So You Became My Everything" Comics! I am creating a weekly comic updated every Wednesday (Thurs NZ time) that's about the difficulties and joys of parenting in our modern world! They say it takes a village to raise a kid, but what if you don't have a village? In our current times with digital isolation, and me being a bit of an introvert... I relied on internet stories of parents for support. So I'm now giving back in a humorous form! I want to talk about the ugly side as well as the good. I hope this comic will validate fellow parents, and also give insight to parenting to people who don't have kids! It's set in NZ so some medical information and government information may differ, but I hope reading it will make fellow parents smile and just remind you that you're not alone. This is my personal diary of pregnancy and parenthood, so please be aware that every pregnancy is different and may not be same as mine.