Perhaps you saw
this article and "scandalous" cover of Time magazine discussing attachment parenting. Personally I thought the whole thing was blown way out of proportion. While I buy into some of the theories of attachment parenting, the article made it seem as if all people who buy into attachment parenting philosophies breastfeed their children until their kid learns to drive!
However, I really appreciated
this article in response to the discussion stirred up by the the Time magazine piece. I definitely buy into the theory that we all need to chill out and stop worrying about being perfect. And perhaps more importantly stop allowing others to dictate what makes a "good parent."
I found this quote to be especially appreciated:
"Once you refuse, as a mom, to do the things you hate—
especially
the ones Dr. Sears or your friends or your mother-in-law says are
non-negotiable—you open up a big beautiful space to the do the things
you love as a mother."
I think that's very comforting since I don't envision myself as the "Martha Stuart" mother. My kid will likely never have a homemade Halloween costume (in fact Itty Bitty will be lucky if I even remember to get
any Halloween costumes because I really hate that holiday). While I do make homemade cookies, I only do that about twice a year. I'm not the arts and crafts kind of person and I doubt my kid will ever be scrap booked (I've tried to scrap book and really hate it).
So having said that, I hope I can remember to keep everyone's "good" advice in context. I also need to remember not to compare myself or my child to someone else. Just because that mom loves to make homemade treats and dress her daughter in frilly dresses and the son always has matching everything... well I think I'll just be lucky if Itty Bitty has on clean clothes and I remembered to pack a lunch!
In other parenting news, I've also decided that the media is attempting to make us all paranoid. I've started to notice all of the news articles highlighting the latest "death traps" for your child. And while I doubt I'm going to get any gold stars for my mothering skills, I certainly want to keep Itty Bitty safe. So I read the articles.
Yesterday I stumbled across
this article discussing the dangers of bottles, pacifiers, and sippy cups. Of course this catches your attention because even if you plan to breastfeed eventually a bottle, sippy cup, and (GASP) a pacifier will enter your child's life. So if they are a death trap I NEED TO KNOW!!
Turns out that the article is warning about kids who are injured while typically walking or climbing with one of these objects is in their mouth and they hurt themselves. Well duh! The statistic they site is:
Between 1991 and 2010, about 45,000 children under age 3 were treated in
emergency rooms for injuries due to these products, according to a
report in the journal
Pediatrics.
However, in 2009 (the random year I pulled the statistic for) there were over 700,000 births. So assuming that's a good average from 1991-2010 there were over 13 million children born. So of the 13 million(ish) kids born, 45,000 kids had some kind of an accident with their sippy cup. I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound so terrifying. While I'm sure at the moment the kid with the split open lip is awful I think it's a risk I'm willing to take. I think this article only creates paranoia. After all, what is childhood without a couple of stitches!
On the other hand, I also saw
this article yesterday. Now that is SCARY!!! Holy cow! Your baby could swallow one of those button batteries and you not even realize it until it's very serious. That scares me. So while I think a lot of the articles point out the obvious, but acceptable risks, they just make people paranoid to allow their kids to walk out the front door, some of the articles area helpful highlighting real, unexpected dangers. And while I'm definitely all about creating a safe environment for Itty Bitty, I also think childhood requires a couple of bumps and bruises. It's part of what makes being a kid great!
