You know you're a desensitized parent when...
 

You're sitting on the toilet reading the comics and your daughter and 3 of her little friends (ages 3, 5 and 7) come barging into the bathroom to check the colors of their tongues after eating popcicles.. and it doesn't even dawn on you till they've left the bathroom that "HEY, I'm sitting on the toilet half naked taking a dump!"

What moment did it dawn on you that you were so used to childlike foibles, noises, intrusions, etc. that something didn't freak you or gross you out till AFTER the event?

In the middle of the night, my 3 year old wakes up, and as I get to his room, he begins to throw up. I'm catching his vomit in my cupped hands, and all I can think is "Poor little guy". Before kids, even the thought of vomit was enough to get my stomach turning.

Been there, done that. :lol:

Heh. Almost the same thing: during an outing to a 4H fair-daughter (2 at the time) gagged on a french fry as I was eating. Spouse caught her vomit in his hand, I watched and never missed a bite. Before parenthood, just hearing someone gagging on tv would make me feel ill.
Second place would be when they've gotten sick from the southern end-just gather it all up, rinse out what I could, bag and garbage the rest and move on.

Cleaning up poop, pee, snot, vomit, chewed & spit out food, & drool doesn't bother me much at all. Before I became a parent, just thinking about doing that stuff made me squeamish.

More mindblowing to me is not how desensitized I've become, but how sensitized I have become to things I previously thought of as harmless. For example, I never used to understand how certain TV shows could be considered harmful or inappropriate for kids. Now, even certain cartoons that my kids watch make me cringe from some of the language used. Shows that have characters calling each other "stupid", "idiot", or "loser" make me feel uneasy. I try to only let my kids watch shows with positive messages even though they might not be as exciting or "cool" as the mindless stuff. Unfortunately, I think I'm losing this battle as they get older.

Just shows how I'm not ready to be a parent yet. 2 different babies have spit up INTO MY MOUTH (why do I insist on raising babies while on my back without checking if they've just eaten?). One was back in 1986. I can still taste it.

:lol:

Q... trust me, when they are your own kids it isn't nearly as bad.

Eventhough I have my own, I still gag at the sight of other's kid's vomit and feces.

I guess it would be the first time I wipeed some food off my kid's face and ate it myself.

"Here let me get that..." :)

When cleaning up bodily fluids of the children don't make you gag, but cleaning up after the pets do. It was always the othe way around...

I think that I became a desensitized parent when I was holding my sick child on my shoulder when she woke up crying in the middle of the night and she threw up down my back and into my slippers and my first thought was, "I hope she's okay once we clean HER up and get her back to bed."

Another moment was when she was coughing really deep and I knew she was going to throw up and instead of backing away, I instinctively cupped my hands and try to catch it so she would be comforted by being close to me after it was over...bad decision on my part. You can't be prepared for the volume of chow that comes out with just your hands.

Now we have two and everyday is an adventure, from cuts and scrapes, to boogers and puke....good times. Seriously, though, I wouldn't trade it for anything...maybe some new slippers.

You become quickly 'un'desensitized when your kid comes home with a dent in your car door. :mad:

Wow. Interesting side effect:

This thread is a form of birth control.

Tell me more, lol.

Billage... just go read one of Vasectomy threads... there's some birth control control for ya...

For the first couple of years when having sex with my ex, if I heard or even thought I heard any noises that the children made, my little buddy would go down, real fast. It got to a point where they would knock on the door, and I would tell them that mommy and daddy would be out in a few minutes, and then go right back into pumping away.

Just about everyone here mentioned the crap thing. I can relate, but for me it was blood. I dont pass out or anything was I feel a little queasy, and did the first couple of times the kiddies got skinned knees, but now it doesnt phase me at all.

Maybe someone should point Lurkette here lol

I have to agree with the throwing up thing...seeing it on TV even makes me wanna do it myself....but Amanda doing it has never ever bothered me.

I work in the child center at a gym, and today I was in the infant room taking care of half a dozen 3-12 month olds. One of the babies, an adorable 3.5-month old by the name of Caleb, had been playing in the jumperoo for over half an hour or so, and I thought he could maybe enjoy a change of scenery.

When I reached around his chest to pull him out I noticed that he had drooled an extraordinary amount, and the front of his shirt was soaked. I thought, "Huh, cute! Maybe he's teething already..." I then proceeded to pull him completely out of the jumperoo when I noticed that he was also wet and slimey on his backside.

I look down to find the poor child covered in poo from the middle of his back ALL the way down to his heels. It's ALL over him, ALL over the jumperoo, on the carpet underneath... and all over me. My first thought? "Oh no, poor kiddo! Let's page his mom so she can change him!" Then I wrapped him in a towel, set him down in a pack 'n' play, and proceeded to clean up the jumperoo. Didn't phase me one bit.

Meanwhile Eric, who was also working in the infant room with me, was audibly gagging in the background the whole time. Obviously, he doesn't have kids. ;)

Ha, my wife just did that to my front bumper, I fear the day my son starts to drive...

What you have to do is hope that your kids grow up to be really good liars like me, so everytime there's a dent or nick "I dunno, never noticed it before. I didn't hit anything..."

-Earlier that day G_Frost backs out of a space at Sonic and dents the hell out of the side of his car...-

You know you're a desensitized parent when:

Your daughter comes home with "dog collar boy" and not a single smart assed comment escapes your lips.

ditto the immunity to poo & puke.
in addition...

before:
any noise in my room while i was asleep made me clench my fists,
ready to punch whoever came close enough to try to wake me.

after:
i hear every little pitter patter & door handle click,
and respond not with a clenched fist,
but by pulling back the sheets
so the little one can climb up with me.
:love:

I look down to find the poor child covered in poo from the middle of his back ALL the way down to his heels. TotalMILF
Haha, at my daycare center, we called that a blowout.
I have fond memories of sitting in a room, surrounded by a dozen crying, hungry, stinky infants, thinking, "Twins would be like nothing after this...heck, I could even handle triplets!"

Never. Going. To. Reproduce. Never. Going. To. Reproduce.

Don't remember the bad times, only the good - funny how time fixes these things.

Chicken :lol: Where's your sense of adventure?? ;)

I developed the most amazing case of selective hearing. I could hear the television, phone, doorbell, other adults, etc just fine. I became deaf to "she - enter any child activity here", and "she did it, started it, said it, pulled it, pushed it, sat on it, petted it, squished it, tasted it, peed on it, first".

Well I only have one child (for now. lol) and he's 18 months old, so I have to agree with most everyone else with the poo and puke.
I have babysat for my three sisters kids all through the years and changed many diapers, so I thought nothing of having my own children. But out of watching 7 neices and nephews I never babysat while they had diarrhea but the first time my son experienced it and it lasted for 2 days it never phased me a bit. I just grabbed him when I saw it running down his leg, got him cleaned up and comforted him the best I could.
The first time he messed in the tub was also an experience, but I just got him out dried him off and dressed him and cleaned out the tub. The next day me and his grandparents got a good laugh out of it.

Been there done that also.

Reading to my daughter with her in my lap. She gets sick. My wife freaks still when it comes to puke. I catch it in my hands. My wife wasn't sure what to do. I asked her to pick up the kid so I can empty my hands.

It is so different when it is your kids. After all they are half you. In some cases that seem way too much 100% you.

Not just the crap and the vomit, but the TALKING about it to other people. The scene: At the park for playgroup and disussing the color, texture, amount, and frequency of my daughter's stool with another mom. It was at that moment when I realized - Boy have things changed...

This is great... the exact details are fuzzy, but the event itself is crystal-clear in my memory...

I couldn't have been more than 6 or 7 years old, and all I remember is that it was the middle of the night and i was sick. My dad was walking me to the bathroom, my mom not far behind, when I lurched- he saw the movement and cupped his hands to catch the forthcoming vomit. Right after asking if I was ok, and I said i was ok again, I guess it dawned on him what he did and he looks down at his cupped hands and says, "why the heck did I do that?" I remember my mom just bursting into laughter. As if it's impossible to get vomit off of a rug, the story is even better because the whole thing took place in a hallway that was linoleum or tile, something like that, so all it would have taken would be a paper towel. Instead, he had two hands full of puke. lol

The spouse took a while to get that selective hearing. Everytime the kids got into a row, he was jumping in so then I'd have 3 loud voices, two of which I hadn't heard until he started in.
I constantly reminded him to ignore them until we heard a) a crash and b) followed by crying. The exception would be any crashes during bedtime that were not followed by crying...which happened when my son fell out of his bunkbed. He didn't knock himself out(thank goodness), he was just stunned that he was on the floor.:lol: (he wanted to use the bathroom and had turned sideways in his sleep. Thinking he was still at the head of the bed, he scooted over to where he thought the ladder was and plunged into darkness instead)

I knew I was a desensitized parent when:

I had to take one of my kids to the emergency room to get stitches and I didn't cry (third time).

I thought that bringing an old fish tank into the house for the girls to fill with frogs (just for the evening:p ) was a charming idea.

I don't see how anyone could be squeamish or feel sick after seeing one vomit after graduating from a 4-year univerisity :)

Haha Amen to that

It is kind of strange when you find yourself doing the math... Where can she hurl that will be easier to clean up...

also:

My nephew (4 at the time) was running around his house naked. He dove onto the couch, and came up screaming. Apparently there was a staple sticking out of the arm of the couch... Net results, 2 stitches on his scrotum.
My first reaction was... "Is he ok?" :eek:

I knew I was desensitized when the baby taking off his dirty diaper, spilling the contents all over the bedroom floor, said "caca" which is what my family says for poop with the kids. I got excited ! He was showing a readiness for potty training!

Thankfully my kids never really did a lot of puking, now the diarhea, that was bad.

I realized I was more than a little desensitized just today. My oldest, the daughter, said F*** you to me four times in less than half an hour. Count your blessings while they're young. Poop and pee and puke are nothing compared to what they can do to you later!

I'm a Medical Assistant at a pediatrics office, been there a year. I'm already desensitized. I think having to collect stool (or poop as you parents call it) from a diaper that reeks of rotavirus in it has desensitized me pretty good. Not to mention blood, spit up, vomit, drool, same as you've all seen/touched/tasted.

for those of you not in the know.. http://www.webmd.com/content/article/119/113193.htm (explains rotavirus)

I'm thinking I should go to tilted pets to get some advice on the rest.
Or tilted automotive. Or????

I think when I saw a little girl puke all over me, my partner and our squad... it became clear that I was desensitized to everything... boy being a paramedic is fun!... ex-paramedic that is.