Confession
I’ve been very humbled by all the nice comments this week regarding my supposed “open-mindedness” and “non-judgmental” posts. Thank you - I am really excited by the variety and diversity of the comments I’ve gotten so far! Unfortunately, I can’t claim to not be critical, although I do try to not be critical. And it’s hard. Back in my cushy days of Armchair Parenting, before I actually had a child myself, I had lots of opinions. LOADS of ‘em. And as such, I merrily dispensed advice to my friends as they had children. Co-sleeping was for the devil! Children should be weaned at 12 months - sharp! Ferber ruled! Formula was poison! Love and Logic was LOGICAL! Children should always obey their parents - don’t give in! Then, I had a child myself and had to totally rethink EVERYTHING. And I’m still rethinking it and am basically flying by the seat of my pants now.
Sometimes, I am downright embarrassed when I recall some of the past comments I made regarding parenting and in particular, breastfeeding. I guess the upside is that apparently, I DO have the ability to admit when I was wrong and am capable of change. And that should stand for something. Maybe. Perhaps. Hopefully.
A few weeks back, while discussing our daughter-to-be, my husband said “Well, at least this time around we’ll know what to do.” I just chuckled to myself and let him smoke away on his little pipe dream all the while knowing that our daughter will probably throw just as many curve balls at us as our son did.
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April 27th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Don’t burst my bubble! I’m 33 weeks along with my second, and really hoping I learned something with the first that can carry over. How to roll with the punches maybe?
I was much the same, no way would co-sleeping work for me (yeah, I pretty much would have sold my husband for more than 20 minutes of straight sleep, so co-sleeping became a no-brainer), what was so hard about breastfeeding it’s NATURAL, and of course, our baby would adapt to fit into OUR lives not the other way around. Good thing my words taste so good…
April 27th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
I am going to say that I eco Anna’s comment to a T! Add in there no pacifier and you have how we thought raising our child would be. Yeah right… Now I tell my girlfriend (who is 6.5 months prego with her first) that you will do what’s best and all that advice good and bad will go out the window. You’re the parent to your kid not everyone else.
April 27th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Anna,
You hit the nail on the head - that is the #1 Thing I learned as a parent was to “roll with the punches”. This time around, I want to question myself LESS and just listen to my daughter MORE.
Sarah,
I was all about the pacifier, meaning, I thought it was okay and HELL YES, my son would use it. Um, he had other opinions and I could never get him to use it. Of course, now I am glad because we didn’t have to wean him off of it. And of course, my daughter won’t be using a pacifier, right? Right? I guess I better re-read my response to Anna. Sigh.
April 29th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
I just found your blog while reading something on Blogher. A bunch of other bloggers and I focus on breastfeeding as well. Check out my site http://www.mamaknowsbreast.com and then do a search for Carnival. Every month we do a “carnival,” or joint posts on a particular theme. Maybe you want to join in?
April 29th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
With my first 6 months with the second child down, I can safely say that what you learn with the first makes it much easier to deal with the second one being — completely different. Being able to roll with the punches is so much more valuable than you can even imagine. The harder part is adjusting to having two instead of one.