Time Cover

[PhoenixAzul]

Sweet mother of mercy, people. Just raise your kids! Quit thinking, talking, lecturing, over-analyzing every.little.thing. and just raise your kids. Be there for them when they need you, feed them, clothe them, and intervene when necessary. They will be alright, I promise you. You were alright without all of this noise, weren't you?

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by PhoenixAzul

Just raise your kids! Quit thinking, talking, lecturing, every.little.thing. and just raise your kids. Be there for them when they need you, feed them, clothe them, and intervene when necessary. They will be alright, I promise you.

This requires thinking about most things.

Parenting is not a mindless and simple task. It is not even always immediately rewarding. Being a parent (that applies to motherhood as well as fatherhood) can be a very lonely and depressing process in which people assume that you just know what you're doing. Those who wish to go about parenting on pure "instinct" (the notion of a "parenting instinct" is often exaggerated) and effortlessly thoughtless actions are pretending as though parenting is as easy and as rewarding as taking an unconstipated defecation.

Afterall, an historical look at parenting around the world will find things that are considered inappropriate and unhealthy based on more updated norms and laws.

[MysticCat]

What DrPhil said.

[amIblue?]

I believe most (not all) parents do the best they can with the cards they are dealt. Being a mother is both the most difficult and the most rewarding thing I've ever done.

Before I had my daughter, I was going to be the queen of all breast feeders and no way no how was cosleeping ever going to happen in our house. Guess what? Breastfeeding DID NOT WORK for me and my daughter. She's doing great now at four. As far as sleeping goes, the first two years of my daughter's life were hell, and I got so sleep deprived that I made myself sick to the point of losing my job. She was also sick all the time. I gave in to cosleeping, and I don't regret a minute of it. We are working on everyone sleeping in his/her own bed now. We'll get there.

For me, the greatest asset to being a good parent is the ability to be flexible.

Now this heifer on Time, that's just about attention.

[shirley1929]

Originally Posted by 33girl

IMO, any mom who believes they are doing the best thing for their child with "attachment parenting" would not exploit their child or themselves in such a gauche way.

This!

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

The prevailing wisdom is that if you don't breastfeed Bobby til age 3 or co-sleep until like kindergarten, he will grow up to hotwire cars and be a delinquent.

Made me spit out coffee...thanks.

I breastfed for a few months with each child & it worked great. I started to feel guilty when I quit (I was working and it was just becoming too complicated) and then I realized that I was a formula-fed child and I turned out okey-dokey.

What I feel horrible about are the folks who try to BF and can't (either because it's just not working, or they have a medical condition preventing them) and are made to feel inferior as mothers because they're not BF their kid! New motherhood is stressful and hormonal enough without the peanut gallery telling you that you and your kid are going straight to hell for not BF.