This versus That Parenting

While I am waiting to hear back on the blogs I submitted for publication, I cannot hold back on one topic that seems to present itself on almost a daily basis in my realm of mommydom. I have been letting this bother me since day one. Day one, when I ended up having a c-section that I did not want. Day one, when I was unable to breast feed. Here I was, thrown into certain situations that I had little control over that raised eyebrows among some. What kind of parent am I? How am I doing this and Why am I doing that? There is a lot being said about parenting, numerous blogs, numerous studies, basically a kick in the face of all sorts of information you had no idea you wanted to know about or needed to know about and most importantly had to have an established OPINION about on each meticulously outlined method in order to be able to defend yourself. 

As a new parent this can be exhausting and cause added stress. So, I wanted to let all of you out there know that you are not alone, I have gone through it all and here is what I have learned, bottom line (I come from the corporate world so I use this tool to help me get to the root of whatever issue I am faced with): no matter what anyone says or does you are able to chose what method of parenting and raising your child works for you. If you are reading this, if you have spent an entire afternoon on Google or reading through the American Pediatrics website, or marking up a book, then you already know you are a good parent. You are taking time to learn, to weigh all of your options so you can make the best choice for your child and your family. Some kids wish they had parents that would do that for them. 

Do you have to bottle feed? Do you have to work and send your child to daycare? Do you co-sleep? Do you baby wear? Do you let your baby cry it out? Well that is all up to you. Are you loving your child and proving them a good home environment and the necessities they need to succeed? That is the only question you need to ask yourself or worry about. Don't let others try to talk you down. Have confidence in who you are as a person and what you do as a family. Besides, we are all different. The world is made up of such a diverse complexity of people. If we all raised our children exactly alike we might not get the amazing variety of humanity that exists. 

Let's not forget, bottom line, we are all in this together, trying to raise our kids to become the people they are gong to be.