Hellobee Boards

There are definitely things I can't handle anymore. I used to love Law and Order SVU and actually have not watched it once since having my daughter 2 years ago. Certain things do hit me more "as a parent". And I was newly pregnant when the Newtown shootings happened and I do think it hit me extra hard but, no, anyone, parent or not, was horrified by that.

Actually there have been a couple of local news stories involving toddlers that hit me a lot harder. Last week a toddler who looked a LOT like my LO was kidnapped and I couldn't even click on the links until she had been found.

It might make people angry, but it's totally true. My perspective on so many things changed after becoming a parent. Reading or watching things about sick children kills me. I think people who aren't parents can sympathize about a lot, but I don't know if they can truly empathize.

@erinbaderin: I totally cried at this moment as well! All I could think of is my babes been stripped from my arms.

@erinbaderin: @Foodnerd81: I was weeks away from delivering my first, and was so sad to hear about the shootings at sandy hook, but I didn't understand when friends were posting things about going into their kids rooms as they were sleeping to hold them. Then DD1 was born and I remember reading a story about a sick young toddler of a local acquaintance, and I was so overcome with sadness for them and imagining that happening to DD, that I did go in while she was sleeping and hold her tighter. So while I think non parents are absolutely going to have similar feelings of horror, for me, it didn't really hit home until I became a parents myself. So in a way, I get your friends comment, however poorly worded.

Becoming a parent has changed me, but other events in my life have too. I used to watch tons of crime shows (CSI, Criminal Minds, etc) but I stopped after I watched my mom die a few years ago. That was actually before I became a parent. That being said, I get how for most people, becoming a parent would be the big life event that makes them more empathetic or emotional or whatever.

Regardless, I try not to use the "as a parent" thing if I can help it. I have friends going through IF and I feel like these types of sayings would be salt in the wound for them.