I get some emails about parenting from time to time. One today had a question for parents to think about.. What is the single most important lesson you have learned since becoming a parent?
Off the top of my head...
Forget everything you thought you knew about parenting.
You can't know how your little one will be before he is here. You can't predict how you will parent (even with second children and so on! I'm already doing things so differently than I did with Camden - which doesn't make it better or worse, just different). You can try to predict things or plan it all out, but it will be different once that little one is in your arms. It's fine to read all those books and do all that research (hey - I do it!!), but you need to learn to take what you read, what you experience, who your child is, and everything else and figure out how all of it together works for YOU and your family. Don't try to parent "by the book" because your child is an individual. Take advice with a grain of salt. Be ok with questioning how things have been done, and know it's just fine to do it your own way and not everyone else's.
And realize that you will do, think, and say so many things you never thought you would.
And that's ok.
2 comments:
very true -- it's never going to be quite like you thought it would. but it will be wonderful!
I think this week one thing I have really been struggling to absorb more is to just calm down and follow my instinct. I quit reading baby books and some advice message boards and just go with what works for us. Or try to anyway.
I try to back off and think about whether this will be THIS crucial in 25-30 years. Will he care what kind of diapers I used? No. Will he remember if he felt loved? Yes. That's my ultimate goal.
Post a Comment