It always feels so good for a parent to hear comedians like Louis C.K. be honest about parenting. Because for parents, it allows us to acknowledge the fact that sometimes the day-to-day drudgery of parenting can be miserable. Then we can finally open up to other parents about the fact that some days, yes, maybe we want to throw our children out a window, and then those other parents give us the side eye and call child protective services. On the one hand that sucks, because we’re labeled “bad fathers,” but on other hand, PARENTING VACATION.
Adam Pally — of Happy Endings and The Mindy Project fame — has kids, big fat ones, he says.. He was asked recently by Pete Holmes what he thinks of being a Dad and his response was refreshingly honest. “Being a Dad sucks,” Pally said. “But, it’s also great. But really it’s the worst.” That kind of sums up the experience, at least for the first year of a baby’s life.
He continues:
“It’s beautifully amazing, but you’re doing it for someone else and therefore it sucks. It’s boring. You get nothing out of it. You just have this thing that wants more. Basically, you have little Gandolfinis …
“Any parent that has not thought about killing their child is a f*cking liar … You’re sleep deprived, which makes you insane … babies cry like a million times a day. And when you get to your fourth month, where every day has been like that, with no breaks, and you’re holding it, and you’re like, ‘I want to throw this thing out the window.’ And I’ll walk away. I’ll just get in my car. Drive away. And I won’t be a parent … I’ve thought about it a million times.”
I feel your pain, Adam. I’ve got twins, and there were times when I was trying to hold one baby down to change it as she was trying to wriggle free, while the other baby had snatched away the dirty diaper and was flinging it across over the room where I, too, felt like saying, “F*ck it. I’m out. I’m done.”
But then, something amazing will happen — like the baby will bawl at the sound of the Frozen soundtrack — and it fills you with so much joy that you put that Frozen song on repeat and just leave it playing because for the first time in your life, you’ve finally figured out how to say to your beautiful, adorable baby: ‘F**k you!’
