ADVERTISEMENT

Being a parent is a tough job. Although the majority of parents say that having kids is enjoyable and incredibly rewarding most of the time, they also admit that it can be a lot. In fact, 41% say it's tiring, and 29% find it stressful all or most of the time.

Your life changes immensely after becoming a parent, and "Got Toddlered" is the Instagram page that documents that change perfectly. Here we have a compilation of the best before-and-after pictures of what "getting toddlered" does to a person that we've covered throughout many years here on Bored Panda. Life comes at you fast, but kids can tackle you even faster.

More info: Instagram (Got Toddlered) | Instagram (Dad and Buried) | Facebook | Twitter | Podcast | Patreon

ADVERTISEMENT

The "Got Toddlered" Instagram is for parents with kids of all ages. "Don't worry, they don't have to be toddlers," the page's bio reads. "They destroy, regardless of age." The creator of the page is Mike Julianelle, a father of two from Brooklyn. "Got Toddlered" is only one of Mike's projects about parenting.

There's the "Dad And Buried" blog and social media pages as well, where Mike shares funny stories from his life as a dad to two boys. In April 2024, Mike wrote a book, titled "Dad Truths." On his many platforms, Mike presents a nuanced role of being a dad: sometimes it's wonderful, sometimes it sucks, but mostly it's just exhausting.


ADVERTISEMENT
#6

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
Lene
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Haha! It's funny how you learn to sleep whenever and wherever, when you have a little baby. Lol.

View more commentsArrow down menu

If you start thinking "Whew, I'm so glad I don't have kids" while scrolling through this list, you might not be getting the message that Mike is trying to convey. Mike's motto is "Kids are great. Parenting sucks." Back in 2019, Mike told Bored Panda that he doesn't regret having his two sons.

"Look, I don’t hate my kids, I just hate parenting," he jokes with us back then. "Parenting is challenging and frustrating and expensive and exhausting and stressful and boring, and while my sons are often all of those things as well, I don't regret having them. How dare you suggest such a thing just because I occasionally make jokes and memes that make it seem that way!"

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Mostly, it's just Mike's way of dealing with the crazy demanding role that is being a parent. "I mock and troll my kids, and I trash and ridicule parents and parenting, and myself, because that's my sense of humor, and my sense of humor is what keeps me sane amidst the all-consuming hellscape of attempting to protect and raise ignorant, unformed, self-destructive miniature human beings," Julianelle told Bored Panda in 2019.

#10

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
Kali Chaos
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thank you for dressing safely! Pretty sure your littles are grateful too! My parents were very serious about motorcycle safety, hope y'all have many awesome family outings.

View more commentsArrow down menu
#11

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

ADVERTISEMENT

Julianelle started the blog "Dad and Buried" even before his first son was born. "I've always been a writer, and I've always written in a sarcastic and cynical style, about my life and pop culture," he told Thread MB. "When I was preparing to be a parent, the topic lent itself perfectly to my tone and voice." So, in 2013, Mike focused on his stay-at-home dad experience and started writing about that.

ADVERTISEMENT

Mike's goal with the blog (and the following social media pages) was to portray parenting without sugarcoating it. "I was sick of seeing all the rose-colored takes on parenting because I knew they were BS and I wanted to be more honest," he explained his reasoning behind starting the blog. 

ADVERTISEMENT

"I was sick of seeing my friends have their lives and personalities subsumed by their role as parents, and I wanted to prove that you could remain who you are even when you had kids," Julianelle added. He says that his blog portrays parenting with "warts and all" where there's no judgment for parents. Maybe just some gentle mocking of the kids.

ADVERTISEMENT
#21

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
Evagating Beewolf (she/they)
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Michael (a reply to Scott): Maybe she likes it. Maybe it was the only beach wear they sold - I had trouble getting a semi-reasonably covering swimsuit at twelve, I can't imagine it gets easier with age. Maybe it's not about men but about what she wants.

View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT

Although Mike may seem like a jokester online, he also has some good parenting advice. He shares some of it in his book "Dad Truths," but has given his view on parenting to the New York Family as well. According to Mike, the most important and hardest thing in parenting is consistency.

#23

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
Kaeda
Community Member
1 month ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Omigosh. My kids and I are doing this next Halloween for sure.

View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT

"No one knows what they're doing, and we all do it differently, but so long as the way you do it is the way you always do it, you're probably in good shape," he told the New York publication. "Kids need structure, they need to know what to expect, and if you can establish a reliable pattern—whether it's how you discipline or the bedtime routine or setting limits on screen-time or bringing them back to their bed when they try to co-sleep in the middle of the night—it will go a long way toward making your life easier."

ADVERTISEMENT
#26

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
Savahax
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Bad luck! He he get it? Because of the number? Nevermind.

#27

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
Brian Droste
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Are these triplets. Look like it. So he is dealing three times as much as other first time parents.

View more commentsArrow down menu

All in all, "Got Toddlered" and "Dad and Buried" are safe spaces for parents who sometimes might feel that parenting is too much. "Kids are the worst best thing that's ever happened to us," Julianelle told HuffPost in 2017. "If we don't laugh about the havoc they wreak we'd have to cry instead and I'm not a crier."

ADVERTISEMENT
Continue reading with Bored Panda Premium
Unlimited content
Ad-free browsing
Dark mode
ADVERTISEMENT

What about you, Panda parents? Have you got any before-and-after pics of what "getting toddlered" did to you and your face? Show us the consequences of your toddlers in the comments! And, in the meantime, don't forget to check out our previous posts about the "Got Toddlered" page hereherehere, and here!

#31

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
ADVERTISEMENT
#34

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
Savahax
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He's out of the gang now? Think that's better but I'm not familiar with that lifestyle

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#35

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#36

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
Lulu Waters
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is by far the best bored panda article ever. I’ve never smiled this much

ADVERTISEMENT
#39

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#40

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#41

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
ADVERTISEMENT
#45

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
#51

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#52

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
ADVERTISEMENT
#54

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
Feathered Dinosaur
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Always wear nursing pads. You never know when you'll leak, could be just a random thought and boom goes the letdown

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#55

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#56

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
ADVERTISEMENT
#59

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#60

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#61

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#63

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#64

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
MsPlants
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

big brothers are always there to be our first best friends and let us dress them up lol

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#66

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#67

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#69

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#70

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#72

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#73

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#74

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#75

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#76

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#77

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#78

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#80

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#81

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#82

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#83

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#84

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#85

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#86

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#87

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#88

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#91

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#92

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#93

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#94

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
ADVERTISEMENT
#96

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#97

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#98

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#99

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#100

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#101

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
ADVERTISEMENT
#102

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#103

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#104

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST
#105

Best-Before-After-Having-Kids-Got-Toddlered

gottoddlered Report

Add photo comments
POST