I’m choosing to ignore a lot of parenting tips. Mostly because they don’t always apply to us and also because they make me worry and second guess my decision making. For example, while attending a class meant to help parents get their children to sleep, I mentioned that our daughter eats all the time. I was told by the instructor that she shouldn’t be eating that much.
This was wrong. Our daughter is in the first percentile for size. We need to get her to consume more calories; not less. This is partly due to her stunted growth from her heart defect, partly because she never stops running around, and possibly due to genetics if she is taking after the short members of both sides of our family.
The instructor didn’t know enough about our situation to make a call on whether or not our child should eat more or less, and yet, while I was asking for sleep advice, I was still told that I was feeding her too much. I spent my day upset and wondering if I was doing everything all wrong. Answer – nope! I’m an awesome-tastic mom. I’m also the type of person who internalizes outside voices.
So please don’t be offended if I neglect to implement the five top tips for raising children from a miscellaneous article that was found in someone else’s newsfeed. Chances are that I already had a panic attack about that list and I am currently coming to terms with the fact that absolutely none of those tips apply to our family. Also, I’m not raising a child. I’m raising a dinosaur.
