You know who I find super annoying? Brand new parents!  You know who is not super annoying? People who have been parents for a long time.

A brand new bundle of joy is obviously transformational, but please take care to make sure you don’t become one of the parents described below.  The good news is that if you have fallen into some of these traps, the effects often fade with succeeding kids. The top things to look out for are…

Showing too many pictures

I’ve seen them on your social media feeds and the first one today was cute, but please do not send me 15 different pictures of what I missed when I left the room.

Thinking everything their newborn does is special

Yes, your newborn is special, but just because it rolled over two weeks before the baby book said it should doesn’t mean he will be the next Albert Einstein.

Judging other parents

With only a couple months’ worth of experience new parents can sometimes judge other parents. If someone doesn’t breastfeed or sleeps in the same bed as their baby it’s not condemning the kid to death, or a given the kid will grow up to join ISIS.

Complaining about lack of sleep

Lack of sleep really sucks, we will still be friends if you bail on plans to take a nap.

Over the top safety concerns

Babies are fragile, but at some point the worrying is doing more harm than good.

Thinking people without kids have unlimited free time

Yes kids take up a lot of time, but people without kids can also make big commitments with their time as well.

Using kids as an excuse for everything

I can’t hang out because of the baby…I can’t work out because of the baby…I can’t shower because of the baby (yes, this came from a friend)…I know there are joys and pains of parenting, but try to be realistic in what is actually not feasible, and what just isn’t a priority anymore.

Say, “you wouldn’t understand, you don’t have a kid”

There are some things this makes sense to say..i.e. what it is like to give birth, but there are other where the statement really just doesn’t apply…i.e. we can tell if a neighborhood is safe or not.