Some of it is fun- helping them learn to craw, walk, run, teaching them silly songs and their ABC's, helping them make artwork to hang on the fridge, teaching them to help make cookies, clap their hands to a beat, roll down a grassy hill, build sandcastles, swim, enjoy the simplicity of listening to the birds sing and feeling the wind in your hair.
Some of it is kinda frustrating and makes you want to bang your head against the wall- teaching them to read, write, anything really that they must learn in order to function in school and society that most kids just don't have the attention span for, to use the potty instead of diapers, to not hit, kick, bite or fight with their sister/brother or other random child, to not fling their food around the kitchen out of sheer boredom, to not be a greedy selfish monster.
Some of it is just plan disgusting - Like teaching your child how to blow his/her nose more often than not you end of with snot all over you. Or teaching them how to wipe their butt after they poop, yes as a parent one has been doing this since they were born but for some reason it is more excusable and less gross when they are a mostly helpless baby. Rushing them to the toilet in an effort to teach them throw up there and having it end up on your lap is another fun experience one never looks forward to. Teaching a child to brush their teeth shouldn't be disgusting right(?), except when you are trying to teach that child to spit out the toothpaste and they let it dribble out their mouth and all over themselves and you. Or the worst experience for me thus far is convincing my almost 2 yr old daughter that she has to poop and then having to help her when she refuses to do it even when it is on the verge of coming out by means that only medical professionals should have to (but never want to) deal with.
Most of the normal gross things I can deal with: slobber (dogs do that and people still think they are cute), mud or food covered children (no problem), spit up (eh.. it happens), throw up (as long as it is not on me I will survive... mostly), poop explosions ( as long as I have enough wipes), snotty nosed kids (again as long as there are plenty of wipes). Most of my gag reflexes have been beat down from years of working with animals and their various stinky bodily functions and being a biology major and having the majority of my classes in a building that had a permanent smell of formaldehyde and decay in it, but my children still find new and disgusting ways to to make turn around and gasp for breath at random times and fight the urge to vomit what little food I have managed to cram down my throat during the day.
