Babies and Hobos
Having a child for the first time is a lot like taking a homeless person into your home for the first time. Most people already know that babies and homeless people have a lot in common. In fact the similarities are quite shocking to realize.
You can be sure that when we first where preparing to become permanent parents, the suggesting to practice first by taking in a homeless person was mightily scoffed at in this household. We had heard all sorts of horror stories regarding the homeless, things like they are awake at all hours of the night, are messy, noisy and smell, and we didn’t want to let that kind of element fester in our humble sweet home.
However, we were eventually persuaded to take one in, as the experience and knowledge we would gain would vastly outweigh any inconvenience. Plus if we utterly failed, at least it was just a homeless person and nobody really cares about them anyways. Just load em in your car and drop em off in front of a freeway onramp and drive off quickly and you are free and clear. If you are extra nice you can provide them a sharpie and cardboard for use.