8. Spend time with other people’s kids.
Even if you know for a fact that you absolutely, positively, want to have a kid, you might want to spend some time with the kids of your friends and family first.
This isn’t to suggest that watching your nephew throwing a fit over having to share his light saber with his brother will dissuade you in any way from having a little monster of your own, but it’s a good idea to give yourself a heads up as to what to expect. Even the most angelic babies can have their jerky moments.
9. Open a savings account specifically for your child.
In between all that traveling and spoiling yourself, it’s also important to financially prepare for your baby.
10. Enjoy being a kid.
Once you have a kid, you no longer get to be a kid yourself. So, before you hand over the reigns to someone else in your family, as far as the kid thing goes, live it up while you can.
Enjoy that your responsibilities are minimal, that you don’t need to be home at a certain time, and that you can drink the milk directly out of the bottle without your partner freaking out about “germs that will kill the baby.” Hold onto your childlike ways as long as you can … and then grow the eff up.