Have you ever babysat before? Do you have any infant relatives? Do you have a child of your own?

Kids are everywhere, and everyone's can admit that raising them is difficult. It's rewarding in the end, but it's nerve-wracking making sure that you teach them important morals effectively while keeping them healthy and alive.

Before I was a legal adult, I never took a liking to kids. I have a sister who was my baby growing up, but other infants would annoy me. I could never wrap my head around the fact that it takes time for kids to warm up to you, so my patience ran thin and I didn't care to play with or look after children.

Like most females, I babysat a lot because was a very convenient and easy way to make cash on the side of school and work. Without realizing it, I never did anything more than what was asked of me when I stayed at a stranger's house to put their kid to bed. This was before I had met the kiddos I'm helping to take care of now.

For the past couple of years, I have been tending to the needs of two tiny tots. When I had first met them, they were two months old and two years old. Now they're both toddlers, and they've become a huge chunk of my life. While helping them get past milestones towards life in the real world, I've realized that they've been making me a better person.

Collectively, there are seven lessons children will undoubtedly teach you during your time with them:

1. Naivety Is Key

There are bad people in the world, there's no doubt about it. But not every single person is out to get you. I admire kids - they're able to look random people in the eye at a grocery store and start spontaneous conversation. My personal favorite is: "Hi there! My name is _____, my best friend is ____, I'm going to hang out with _____ at my house tomorrow. What's your name?" Being cautious is one thing, but ignoring everyone you don't know isn't necessary and personally, I think it's tiring. If everyone smiled and waved at passersby, reality would suck less.

2. Speaking Isn't Always Necessary

I personally love to talk, but you can interact with others by simply making noises, pointing, and making facial expressions. Watching kids grow is fun, especially when you're teaching them how to speak and express themselves. Our household has recently been experiencing screaming, dancing, grunting, mumbling, laughing, crying - the works on a daily basis. Trying to understand children is difficult, but having conversations that consist of very few simple words is a great breather for my brain.

3. Getting Hurt Isn't A Reality

Telling kids "no" isn't an option - they've got to experience why they shouldn't jump off the side of a couch, hit their friends, or run around the pool. Praying they don't die, letting kids realize that they're not superman is an extremely trying process. You have to be there to give them their bandaids and kisses, but also learn that taking chances is the only way to understand why hopping off a wall with a trash bag as a makeshift parachute isn't a wise idea.

4. There Is No Such Thing As "Clean"

You have to accept that things are going to break, stains are looking to stay and crumps are inevitable. Welcome to hell.

5. All The Toys

It's fun to give kids everything they want. They are incredibly happy for a couple days... and then they want another barbie doll or batman. Eventually, it all piles up in to a hectic mess and (back to cleaning) is impossible to get rid of. I like giddy kids, and I like them to stay that way. I've learned that spoiling myself is fun, but in order to value all that I have, indulgence should only happen when I need a pick-me-up. There's a greedy little kid in all of us.

6. There Are No Gender Roles

Males can play with barbies and girls play rough too. Kids don't know sterotypes about gender until we teach them - until they learn society's roles, male and female tots view each other as equals and cooties don't exist. If a dude wants to wear a dress, you have to let him or else he's going to bawl till you give up.

7. There Is No Limit to Imagination

I remember having so many little play-worlds when I was a kid. I never knew how weird it is to play with barbie dolls again and not have them talking to each other. It's not effortless, but there are endless possibilities on how an adventure will come to a close. It's great to take a break from the real world, and re-teaching yourself how to participate in child's play is more than rewarding.

Life is taken too seriously - finding a happy medium between childhood and adulthood is necessary to lighten reality and let loose.