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Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Parenting Advice

Today is the parenting advice edition of WFMW. So head on over to Rocks in My Dryer to give and receive your best parenting tips!

My advice is this: There is a lot of different parenting methods, and everyone thinks their method is the right one. Some people are even quite militant about the right way to parent. The thing is, parent's should just do what they feel is right, follow your instincts. What works for one family won't always work for yours. For example, I have a lot of friends who do Cry-It-Out with their babies. This works for them, their babies are great sleepers, but it's just not part of how I parent. Just like some people like skydiving and bungee jumping, I will never do it but that doesn't make it wrong. Try not to separate parenting into groups like "Attachment parenting" vs "modern parenting" or anything like that. It creates divisions between people that cause feelings of competitiveness, hurt, and a "better-than-you" attitude. We need to be willing to accept people who parent different than us, doing otherwise just makes the divisions wider. Like I said, I have friends that parent much different than I do, but that doesn't make them bad parents. Their kids are healthy and happy and I know their parents love them, that's what matters.

6 comments:

Michelle said...

True true! I don't like how parents are grouped together either. We're all equal trying to do what's right for our children in the best way we know how.

Good advice. :)

Dawn said...

I agree. And what i think is that more people are a "smorgasboard" type parent than let on. I am! I take a little of this, add some of that, don't do any of that, and that's how I parent! LOL

Kara said...

Dawn- I think that's so true, I know I'm a mishmash of parenting styles.

Anonymous said...

We have to do our best....God is always guiding us...helping us to make the right decisions. We can't worry about labels...Those are for people trying to sell books.......

Anonymous said...

It's too bad not more people can understand this!

Crunchy Domestic Goddess said...

good advice. while i say i'm very much pro-attachment parenting (and i am), what i believe in above that is following one's instincts. i think every family/child are different and each need different things. i wish every mom and dad would just follow their instincts. i think your heart won't lead you astray. :)