Mother nature equiped us with a maternal/paternal instinct that makes us want to reproduce ourselves but she fell short when it came to equiping us with the necessary skills to take on the huge and difficult task of raising children. Anyone who has had a child remembers how inadequate they felt when first confronted with reallity of their first baby. It is often quite terrifying and even though they have read the books and talked to their friends and their mothers, when baby starts to scream and won't stop despit your best efforts, it can leave you with terrible feelings of inadequacy.

The trials and tribulations that we face as parents do not stop with a screaming infant at midnight. The fact is, as the child gets bigger so do the problems. There are sleepless nights when the baby is teething, when they have ear infections, throat infections, nappy rash etc etc. Then before you have caught up on your sleep the little dear is off to school

You will heave a huge sigh of relief. Now you feel like the worst is over. It isn't. There will be homework, packed lunches that come home untouched, they will tell you at 8pm that they have to have a metre of ribbon to take to school the next morning and on and on it goes. Of course there will be the report cards and the parent teacher meetings and probably phone calls from the school telling you your little pet has done something horrible. No one told you about that did they?

By the time your child becomes a teenager you think you are ready for them. Well think again. The teenage years are the most difficult. They are at the age when they know everything and think you are pretty dumb. There are tears and tantrums, acne to deal with and the romances that will leave you lying awake at night waiting for your child to come home and worrying that they won't.

Sound Awful? It really isn't if you are calm and handle your children with a lot of love and common sense. From birth to maturity, children are an absolute delight to be around. Yes even that spotty teenager who seems to have become a complete stranger. Build strong bonds of communication and mutual respect with your child. Learn to lead, not drive, be consistent and fair with your discipline and you will make it and raise a happy healthy well adjusted child who will be delighted to pick out your nursing home when the time comes.