It’s April which means lots of April showers as evidenced by the gloomy view out my office window today. My umbrella will be stored permanently in my purse until May. Unless I leave it somewhere never to be seen again, which knowing my track record is highly likely.

I have hated the rain my whole life (it does not agree with my hair AT ALL), but rain as a parent is a thousand times worse.

Why is it so terrible? Let me count the ways…

1) When you finally figure out how to put the stupid rain cover on the stroller, you spend the rest of the day worrying your child can’t breathe in there.

2) And what are you supposed to do with the sopping wet rain cover once you get where you are going? Is “ball it up and shove it in the corner” the proper way to store it?

3) There goes letting your kids get all their energy out in the playground.

4) Puddles are fun to jump in until your kid gets her pants wet and LOSES HER MIND. (True story.)

5) The outdoor birthday party was canceled and now you have to break the news to your three-year-old that she will not be getting any cake.

6) OH MY GOD HOLDING AN UMBRELLA AND PUSHING A STROLLER AT THE SAME TIME IS THE HARDEST ARM WORKOUT I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE.

7) And what hand am I supposed to use to hold my coffee???

8) If you forgo the stroller and opt to walk with your child, please note that it’s impossible to keep both yourself and your child dry under one umbrella.

9) If you give your child her own umbrella, be prepared for her to take out an old lady on the street with the handle, run right into a pole because she can’t see where she is going and chase it down after it gets blown away by a gust of wind.

10) Once your kid takes her umbrella to school, that thing is never coming home.

11) You have to decide between being the awesome parent who scours Pinterest for rainy day activity ideas or the terrible parent who just says, “Screw it!” and turns on an all day Disney movie marathon. And then even if you choose to be the awesome parent, your kids get bored with their paper plate crafts and sensory table stations in two seconds and beg you to give them their iPads and then you realize the awesome parent would have just turned on the television from the get-go.

12) Isn’t it amazing how far a child can track mud into your home?

13) You can’t get a kid in a carseat and hold an umbrella at once. And balancing the canopy of the umbrella over the car door sounds like a good idea, but doesn’t work either. At some point every parent has to accept that they are going to have to sacrifice themselves and get sopping wet.

Yesterday, I realized Mazzy had outgrown her rain boots and Harlow doesn’t have a rain coat (where did Mazzy’s hand-me-down go?????), so I looked online for some new rain gear options. This is not sponsored but I thought I’d share some of my finds, since the only advantage to dealing with kids in the rain is the adorable gear.

1) Primary Dots Umbrella; 2) Strawberry Sundae Rain Coat; 3) Pink Hunter Chelsea Rain Boots; 4) Zebra Umbrella; 5) Pink Transparent Rain Coat; and 6) Horse Rain Boots.

1) Pirate Umbrella; 2) Hunter Lace-Up Rain Boots; 3) Short Rubber Boots; 4) Little Batman Raincoat; 5) Splash Pants; and 6) Spacecars Umbrella.

1) Herschel Alexander Waterproof Tote; 2) Heart-shaped Umbrella; 3) Waterproof Ergo Carrier Cover; 4) Barbour Waterproof Yellow Rain Jacket; 5) Zig Zag Rain Boots; 6) To-Go Emergency Rain Ponchos; 7) Black, White & Pink Striped Umbrella; and 8) Waterproof Rains Runner Backpack.

What’s your go-to rainy day activity?