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Recommendation Overload for Parents
By Mommie | January 23, 2008
Today parents seem to need an enormous amount of help with raising their children. There are books, TV shows, hell, and even these types of blogs to help us out. Let me just say I’ve used every resource available to me to help me “learn” how to become a good parent. I had to learn quicker than most, as my daughter didn’t become my daughter until she was two (she is my step daughter). I was lucky enough to start with the terrible two’s! Now with my son I get to go through the baby stage as well.
With each child I’ve done reading on what they “need” at that age. I’m floored by the amount of information put in front of parents these days. With all of the “must do’s” and “must not do’s”, a parent is left to worry about what will happen if the expert advice isn’t followed. I read to my daughter when I can, it was definitely every night during the summer but it has dwindled as of late because she has started her bedtime stalling routine, which seems to just eat up all our reading time. All the advice says read to your kids every night. So if I don’t will she ever have a shot at being president, or maybe she’ll end up homeless and illiterate? What about eating…we’re supposed to feed our children tons of fruits and vegetables a day. If I were to feed my daughter all the fruits and vegetables recommended a day then she would never have a chance to eat any starch! But if I don’t, am I a bad parent, will she grow up with some crazy disease because she didn’t eat enough apples as a child.
Same with my son. He’s almost 9 months now. I’m supposed to read to him every night to. I read to him during the day (and when I do he eats the books), so does that mean he’ll have nightmares, or am I ruining his chance for kindergarten success if he doesn’t get read to every single day? The “book” says he should be walking and playing the piano and saying “mama, I need a diaper change” in perfect English by now (btw, that’s sarcasm), and if he’s not, does that mean I didn’t sing to him enough in my belly or maybe I should have played Bach instead of Mozart inutero?
The point being that we have so many sources of information put out there to help parents be better parents. But are they really assisting or are they bombarding us with so many pieces of information that it’s hard to discern what are useful musts and what is just additional noise? My husband has banned me from the “books” already, as he’s sick of hearing “But the book says…” and he’s threatened the internet as well. My kids are happy, healthy, and well taken care of, even if I miss the Tuesday night story time!
Topics: Uncategorized |
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:44 am
Overloading of tasks at home will teach us how to manage our time, which is much harder to do than satisfying our boss in the office. However, it is very rewarding to see your achievements as a parent. A simple smile from your kids is more inspiring than a job promotion.
By the way thanks for the recommendation at Entrecard. It was the first one.