Surrender yourself

"Surrender has 3 enemies; fear, denial, and control....
What you fear, approach. What you deny, say. What you control, release."
Peggy O Mara (mothering magazine)

My single piece of advice for new parents? Just give in.
Seriously, the more you give in the easier it is.
Giving in, give up, surrender... however you want to look at it.

I have come to my own conclusion that all sin is rooted in selfishness. Put yourself first and short change someone else. If you can think of a wrongdoing not connected to selfishness please tell me. I'd be interested to hear it.
Now on the opposite swing of that, the more you offer yourself up in sacrifice the happier you will be.

How can a marriage not succeed if both spouses are selfless? If you think of your love before yourself in everything. Same with children. Change your priorities. Care less about taking showers (of course take a couple a week for sanity's sake), forget about those days when you slept without waking up for nine hours. Yeah it's hard. Shoot. It's REALLY hard. Hopefully you aren't the only one pouring yourself out as an offering, that way you can recieve what others pour back into you.

I love what O'Mara said about surrender. I see so many parents that feel like they are supposed to control everything about the child, believing that is in their best interest. Does it really matter if your 3 year old wears 4 pairs of shorts? yes even in public. Why can't your one year old play outside naked? Sometimes even just the choice of language sounds so domineering. "Stop That" "I said No!" "GET OVER HERE!" I don't want to dominate my kids. We ask them to say please why can't we?
It is hard to surrender to the constant needs of children. But you have to trust they have those needs for a reason. Trust that they know what they need and don't try to control it, deny it or fear it.