Stupid Stuff New Parents Fight About

Scary Mommy understands just how scary the first year can be for new parents.  All that fear, stress, and sleep deprivation can lead to lots of arguments between new moms and dads.  I once told a dear friend that my husband and I argued more during the first year of my son's life than we have at any other point in the 10 years we've been together. That first year was crazy hard on our marriage.

Here are some things we argued about that, according to Scary Mommy, all new parents are guaranteed to spend time fighting about:

1. Sleep

Like perfectly civilized nations can find themselves at war over finite resources, a perfectly happy couple will straight up battle over sleep. Who gets more of it? Who had to wake up a million times? Who snores so loud that the other person’s sleep doesn’t count? You will fight about the quantity and the quality of sleep, and you will end up negotiating through barter systems you never knew existed. A blowjob for a nap? Cooking dinner in exchange for sleeping in? Whatever you have to do to keep the peace because, if you let yourselves, you could argue about this one for the next 10 years or so.

Sleep jealousy is a very real thing and you'll learn just how jealous you can be during that first year with a new baby.

2. Work

You will inevitably have the argument about who works harder. It goes hand-in-hand with the sleep argument because whoever has the hardest job thinks they have the better case for needing more sleep. It’s pointless though because you’re both probably busting your asses, but it won’t stop you from arguing about it.

Expect to keep having this argument periodically for years after you have children, but it's worst during that first year when infants require so much.

3. Driving

Maybe you and/or your spouse was a backseat driver before you had kids; maybe you weren’t. It doesn’t matter, because you definitely are once there is a baby in your car. Suddenly you are yelling at one another about driving too fast, merging too late, and running that yellow light. Your precious new cargo really ups the ante for how much grief you are willing to give your partner for all the things they do incorrectly behind the wheel. And, for the love of God, yes, you have to use your blinker.

I never really paid that much attention to my husband's driving skills before we had children and for the most part he kept his mouth shut about mine. These days, we are constantly telling each other how to drive and what not to do behind the wheel. We're quickly becoming an annoying old couple when it comes to how we act in the car.

Want to know what else you're going to wind up arguing about with your baby daddy? Check out the 9 things you'll definitely argue about at Scary Mommy.