On the Close of A Decade of Parenting

I'm not a parenting expert by any stretch of the imagination, but with the oldest of my four children approaching his tenth birthday, I'd like to think I can offer at least a few valuable parenting insights.  So here's a brief list, meant to prepare would-be parents for their eventual offspring.

1. Sleep.  Even if you aren't tired, sleep.  Sprawl out on the bed and sleep.  Sleep late, take your time getting out of bed in the morning.  Sleep.  Words cannot begin to describe what sleep will come to mean to you once you have children.  And a full night of uninterrupted sleep...  that will be a mere dream to you someday.  So sleep now, sleep deep, and sleep long. 
2. Clean.  Declutter.  Organize.  And understand that all bets are off in this department once you buy your child his first pack of Legos.  No.  His first pack of diapers.
3. Read the parenting books now.  When you have children, you won't have time to read them.  If you understand that you will disagree with, forget, or fail to implement 99% of what you read, all the better for you.  But read it now and tuck away in your mind the gems you gather.  If there are any "systems" you want to implement in the future, make your charts and buy your bins NOW.  It's a lot easier to think through what you need, where you need it, and why you need it when your brain isn't distracted by a million other things you need to do and your efforts aren't being undermined by the perfectly good and natural, though completely unorganized, business of daily life with children.  
4. Start changing all your plans at the last minute, because life with children is a series of altered plans.  You're going to run late because someone has to poop when he should be putting on his shoes to leave the house.  You're going to stay home from a few events because someone spiked a fever or threw a tantrum or you're just too frazzled to face an outing.  Other times, you're going to load everyone into the car because something comes up that is just too good to miss... or because you just need to get out and shake things up a bit.  Understand that unpredictability and flexibility can be huge blessings.
5. Get over perfection.  Figure out how to overlook flaws, appreciate quirks, and accept failure, and figure out how to do it with grace - because you're going to have rough days when nothing comes together quite like you want it to, and it will be a lot easier if you understand that the world won't end because your kids or you can't get it together.
6. Finally, when you do become a parent...  When you are holding that little bundle of promise, wondering how on earth you will ever do right by him, take comfort both in the knowledge that it gets easier and in the knowledge that it doesn't.  You'll figure some things out along the way, but even after years of parenting several different little (or rather, big) personalities, there are things that will remain a mystery.  We learn, only to find we have more to learn.  After almost a decade of this parenting gig, I know more and I know less.  Some days I feel like I have a pretty good handle on what we're doing, and that's great.  Other days, I feel completely clueless, and that carries its own brand of great, in that it proves no matter how long we're at it, the initial love-driven concern to get everything right remains.

That's the extent of my parenting insight for today.  If you will refer to points one through six, you may understand exactly that writing this post has been a lovely reprieve from more daunting duties and reflections on a day when I'd really like to wave a magic wand over a lot of things, starting with the floor.  If you do not understand, wait.  You will, in a baby or two or three or four....