Calculate How Many Days You Have Been A Parent

Have you ever wondered exactly how many days you’ve been a parent? No? Well, me either. That is, until I saw this post on Facebook by Adore Them Parenting. I couldn’t help myself and now you won’t be able to either; responses in the comments of the post ranged from a precious 70 days to an impressive 17,450.

I personally came in at 3,422, which seems low. I do know that there are 365 days in a year and that my son has been alive for almost 9 and a half years. But I also know that in parenting, the days are long while the years are short, which is probably why 3,422 just doesn’t seem big enough to encompass the entirety of this role. I really would’ve thought I’d put in enough parenting energy to account for at least 5 digits at this point, but alas, maths.

Obviously this little exercise can be used for how many days you’ve been or done a lot of things, not just parenting. You could search for how many days you’ve been alive. Or how many days since your first date with your partner—or since your divorce was mercifully finalised. How many days since you stopped smoking or started exercising? You even could search for how many days you’ve worked in the job you hate, but you might not want to know that answer.

Knowing how many days it’s been since you became a parent, though, does suddenly feel like particularly important information to have. And even though my number feels low, I do think my son will be impressed to hear that he’s been a person for almost 3,500 days.