The idea of having kids is overwhelming. Well, wait until your baby grows into a toddler. It takes its toll on parents mentally and, let's face it, physically. To prove it, Mike Julianelle of the blog Dad and Buried has curated, er, visible proof.
On October 13, Mike posted a side-by-side photo of himself before he became a dad and after he "got toddlered" (kids arrived). The dad of two, seven- and two-year-old boys, looked sleep-deprived in the after photo, but to be fair, there was a 10-year difference. It was a simple post, but it resonated with many parents. He called for submissions, ended up receiving a lot and began an Instagram account, "Got Toddlered."
"I’ve gotten a lot more of these than I did of the typical 'my toddler destroyed something' memes I was previously receiving! Probably because taking a photo of something your kids destroyed is less of a priority than cleaning it up," Mike told The Huffington Post. "And it’s much easier to clean a mess than it is to fix your own face!" he added.
Here are some of the "before and after children" submissions he received — and some witty captions:
Some parents felt the whole thing cast a negative light on the physical aspect of having kids. Not all parents go through a "bad" transformation, as the Instagram post below noted.
But clearly, the series is intended to be lighthearted. Mike isn't seriously blaming kids for the state of his life. "Except for me when I seriously blame my kids for the state of my face and my life, which is basically all I do on my blog and Facebook page and Twitter," he joked. "My blog and everything else have always been about the fact that it’s okay, to be honest about the pitfalls of parenthood," Mike added.
"There’s no shame in admitting that for all the peaks, there are plenty of pits. Kids are the worst best thing that’s ever happened to us, and if we don’t laugh about the havoc they wreak we’d have to cry instead, and I’m not a crier," Mike said. To each his own, right, even in raising kids.
Follow Mike via his website, on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
This story originally appeared on Smartparenting.com.ph.
* Minor edits have been made by the Femalenetwork.com editors.
