After having children

Some time ago, a classmate asked me how it felt to be a mother. I was speechless for a moment, and I didn't know where to start.

I think back to when Xiao Man was just able to walk and talk, when he came home from work, he saw me from afar and rushed forward with his arms open. Such a soft and vivid life, wrapped around my neck and nestled in my arms, let my whole body and mind melt in this honey-like happiness.

Once again, the troublemakers spread all the books on the shelves on the floor, stepping on them, and the cheerful look made me hate me so much that I just wanted to kick them all out. I weighed more than 90 pounds before I got pregnant, and I couldn't get down 120 after giving birth. Before having children, buy and buy, all for yourself. After giving birth, the shopping cart is all for the child. Everything, even work, must make way for the child. So, you understand why HR asks you if you have children when companies are hiring.

The feeling of being a mother is really not something that can be explained in one or two sentences. Sour, sweet, bitter, spicy and salty, the bitterness and happiness in it are indescribable.

Mr. Lao She once wrote an article "After having a child", more than 80 years have passed, the world has changed, only the birth of children, and today's situation is not much different. Let's enjoy this article, no children first preview, there are children to taste the aftertaste together.

After having children

Author: Lao She

Artists should take art as a wife, in fact, to be a bare stick for a lifetime. In the next leisure time, I often write some novels, although I have not been a writer and artist at one time, I also feel the burden of my family. Whenever I am trapped in the disaster of oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, I think of being alone, and I will eat enough to make the world peaceful.

Most of the burden of the family is caused by children. Not to mention the cost of parenting, but in terms of mischievous crying, it is enough to make people panic. The little girl is three years old, and the special meeting waits for me to be in the house, draw a circle on my manuscript, and call it "little Franciscan writing"! If you lose your pulse, she is still reasonable! Otherwise, I just remembered a good sentence, hovering in my head, confident enough to shame Shakespeare, if I could write it. When it was also time, Little Zira pulled my elbow and whispered, "Go to the park to see the monkeys?" "So I'm not yet Shakespeare. The child is a year old, and he can't "write" or go to see the monkeys, but he is kind, closes his eyes, and opens his mouth to show the four small teeth on the top and bottom. If I'm okay, ask him to close his eyes and show his teeth, and the little fat man will always point his fingers in the east and west. When I picked up the pen, he came with all his set, not only kissing his face and closing his eyes, but also "pointing" me to perform these moves. What's the solution?!

That's fine. Rushing to Xiao Ji in the afternoon and not sleeping, pressing and not sleeping, that is difficult to do. By four o'clock it was time for her sleepiness to begin, and by five o'clock I had lost my taste. Nothing was right, even the monkeys in the park had become stinky, and I was responsible for why the monkeys stinked. Little fat people also have this kind of sleepless time and do not sleep, probably most of them are at the same time as Xiao Ji. The two little drunks are looking for faults together, I am Zhuge Liang, I am afraid that I will have to sing the empty city plan, there is no way at all! When this kind of dry waiting to be caught, there will be one or two quick letters - urging the draft! I also had to lose my temper. After a while, the wife was also in a hurry, and the family of four became drunks, and its hilarity was amazing. Adults claim divorce, children say how not, in the divorce debate. It was not until after seven o'clock that the two little angels were trapped and could not move, and the declaration of divorce was invisibly revoked. That's fine. When you encounter a little fat man with teeth, it is really taught, not only is it unreasonable during the day, but you have to work the night shift at night. When he woke up for a while, if he was caught by a needle, he would have teeth out, and no one should plan to sleep. His teeth were sharp, and everyone became red-eyed tigers.

However, this does not hinder the development of love in the family, and the ingenuity of life seems to be here. I remember frank Harris as if he had such a record: he said that Wilde was tried for the dishonorable case, and at the beginning he talked and spoke with humor. When the plaintiff raised several male prostitutes as witnesses, Wilde lost his pulse and had to fail. Harris thought Wilde would say, "I'm a dramatist, and in order to observe life, what kind of people should be associated." If I don't have contact with these people, where do I go to find characters in the play? However, Wilde did not reply like this, and the lawsuit would be lost!

Putting Wilde aside; the artist has more experience, Harris's opinion, if not specifically for Wilde, is indeed good. This is true even of family weariness. Let's talk about children – and that's the point – love them, hate them, no matter how you say it, it's a valuable experience.

When there are no children, one's world has not yet discovered america. The child was Columbus, who brought people to the New World. This new continent is not very far away, just on the familiar streets and at home. You see, the only things that are prepared for me in the market, when there are no children, seem to be barbershops, restaurants, bookstores, post offices, etc. I can't think of the significance of baby hospitals, sugar shops, toy shops, etc. Even the many medicines and powders used by babies in pharmacies, the advertisements for babies' own pills in the newspapers, and the small socks and shoes in department stores are all significantly redundant and fruitless. When the little angel flew down from the sky, my eyes seemed to be wearing a pair of magnifying glasses, the street market was still like that, and the things that had something to do with me had increased by many times! The baby hospital not only hangs a sign, but also dares to have a doctor inside. Not only are there doctors, but they are still quite spirited, and they can't be offended at all. Take the rune given by the doctor, go to the pharmacy, and dare to feel that those small bottles and small cans have an effect. Not only do you have to buy the white juice yellow noodles and various kinds of medicinal cakes in the bottle, but also buy bottle jars, rolled flour bowls, milk filling funnels, nipples, sanitary diapers, and a lot of fun! The little clothes and hats and the small furniture in the department store also have meaning; what was originally thought to be superfluous has now become something that cannot be done; sometimes the shop lacks the small item I want, and I still have the meaning of looking down on them: since it is a department store, how can it not prepare this thing?! Slowly, all the shops on the street, except for the gold shops and antique shops, had my footprints; even the pawnshops were strangely familiar. The people in the shop also gradually became acquainted, and they could even casually chat, child-centered, and talk quite interestingly. Guys, treasurers, it turns out that not only are there cabinets for sale, but there are also children in the house! Some shops even dare to allow me to owe debts, as if once I have a child, my personality is better and I can be trusted. The three sections of the account came very enthusiastically, so that I understood how to sweat during the New Year.

The child enlarges the world and reveals what is hidden. No child can understand this. Looking at other people's children, fat and fat, neat and tidy, you always feel that children deserve to be like this, born wearing small hats and small jackets, as if the chicks were born with a yellow velvet. Until you have a child, you can know that things are not so simple. A small doll wears what the world's industry and commerce can provide, giving the whole family all the experience of laughter and love, and the child is indeed a little living god!

With the little living immortals, the home will be lively. On the windowsill, I have always thought that it is a place for flowers. In summer, with the windows open, the wind gently blows flowers and leaves, and the fragrance of the house is bursting. In winter, the sun shines on the flowers, making the whole house have some color and vitality. Later, with the children, the mysterious flowerpots were gone, and the windowsills were full of bottles and jars, and I couldn't count how many. Diapers sometimes went up to the writing desk, and bottles were poured on the bookshelf. Cleaning up makes sense, yes, it is time to clean up a meal, otherwise things will be in danger of burying people. During the last cleaning, I found Dante's Divine Comedy under my bed. I don't know why this old guy is hiding and playing there!

The number of people has also increased, and there are many problems. In the absence of children, it was enough to use one servant, and now at least two. In the past, servants "took sugar" and could not use it for a while; when no one made a meal, they went outside to eat it, and no one had to pinch anyone. With children, this bit of pride takes advantage of the early days to put away. No one washed their diapers for three days, and no one came in the house. Milk and other items must be managed by someone, there are children who know that hygiene is difficult, and milk bottles have to be scalded five or six times a day; no servants are simply not OK! If there are servants, you have to make trouble, no way!

There are many things that cannot be done immediately, and children will not wait for the "League of Nations" to slowly solve children's problems. That's the experience. When I went to buy medicine in the middle of the night, there used to be a small opening on the door of the medicine shop, and I could pay for the medicine, but I didn't know this trick earlier. The Western Pharmacy dared to pay the price, and before he could speak, I asked: "Or four cents and five cents?" "This" or "makes me save five cents and end up as an expert." That's another trick. Looking for an old mother to have a workshop, when the ticket is due, you can also extend the profit, and I have learned it. I didn't have to think about it, but probably since I had children, I had gained at least a lot more experience than a college diploma could give me. The college diploma was pulled out of the textbook, and now I am reading a living book and have no head.

Even my own body is now deformed, and under the command of the children, I have to dress up as a horse and a cow, and I have to dress like a child. Not only did I pretend to be a cow like a cow, but I also learned the patience of a cow, and the little fat man felt that "walking away" was interesting, and I had to go tirelessly; just do it once, absolutely not. He changed his mind, and I was able to "stand up straight." Here, I experienced the greatness of motherhood and felt that people who beat their wives should go to jail.

The Mid-Autumn Festival came to an old road, no rice, no money, just ask if there are children? Seeing the little fat man, the old man was happy and said that on the morning of the fourteenth day, he had to tie a red thread to the little fat man's left wrist. Prepare a bowl of water and burn three incense sticks, which will surely eliminate disasters and difficulties. The old lady of the neighbor on the right also came out to see, and the old man asked her if she had any children, and she shook her head miserably. On the fourteenth day, it was the old lady's reminder that the little fat man had only tied a red line on his left wrist. The little child conquered the old road with the old lady next door. Looking at the red line of the fat wrist, I felt more proud than writing a great work, so I went to the street to buy two rabbit kings, and felt that the old way, the red line, the rabbit king, all have great significance!

Published in "Talking about the Wind", No. 3, November 25, 1936

Cover image from Artur Aldyrkhanov on Unsplash