
Ask any parent, and they'll be able to tell you at least one mistake they've made over the years.
Whether it was listening to other people's advice, not listening to other people's advice, or just not taking the time to appreciate the small things, parenting is a lot of trial and error.
But no matter how much experience you have (or the number of parenting books you own) no one really knows what they're doing. And if you had your time again, we're sure there's certainly things you'd do differently.
Watch: The Mamamia team confess the times they were bad mums. Post continues below.
So to make you feel better about your own parenting regrets, we asked the Mamamia community what they wish they would have done the first time around.
Here's what they had to say.
"I wish I believed people when they said 'having a child is hard'."
"I wish I believed people when they said having a child is hard, I thought they were overreacting, therefore I was completely unprepared [for] how difficult it is."
"I wish I'd been less busy."
"I wish I’d played with them more when they were little. I wish I’d been less busy, tidied the house less and just sat on the floor to play."
"I wish I had realised how much my kids would challenge me."
"My biggest regret is not doing any work on myself before I had my kids. Issues I had with controlling anger/coping with frustration/understanding my own childhood have all played into my kids lives far more than I would have liked. I wish I had realised how much my kids would challenge me, rather than thinking once I had kids I would be perfect."
"Not saying 'no' to visitors more."
"I wish I had a few days of no visitors with just me and my eldest in the first week, because at two weeks she was admitted back to hospital sick and spent the next few months miserable. I feel like I never really got to enjoy the tiny baby snuggles."
"Relax."
"I wish I had just relaxed a bit more and not been so anxious about everything."
"I wish that I had resisted the urge to make everything a life lesson."
"I wish that I had resisted the urge to make everything a life lesson. And enjoyed getting to know who they are, less who I was trying to make them."
"I wish I had trusted my gut better."
"I wish I had trusted my gut better, I knew I had a problem feeding my first but everyone kept saying I just had to get used to breastfeeding. Three months of pain, bleeding and tears I finally got diagnosed properly and got a solution. My gut feeling has generally been right about most things to do with the kids."
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