Before my daughter was born, I collected all kinds of parenting articles, read as many parenting blogs I could find, and ordered several highly rated parenting books from Amazon, including the American Academyof Pediatrics “Caring for Your Baby and Young Child, 6th Edition: Birth to Age 5"
I was determined to become the perfect and best parent ever. However, two days after the birth of my daughter, I started to realize that parenting perfection was going to be unattainable because I was having trouble breastfeeding. From there on out, despite all my parenting wins, I had a ton more parenting fails. On top of that, what worked for other kids didn’t always work for my kid and vice versa. It was a surprising revelation.
And now, my little baby is a little girl and I have to tell you that I still don’t have the parenting thing down.
One thing that I have learned in the past several years of parenting is that this is a journey that can look different for everyone. No one goes down the same exact path, yet we do have so many similarities. There is the understanding look or nod from one mother to another when our kid is melting down at the grocery store or when our kid has to open the heavy door “all by self” for the umpteenth time.
With the commonalities, though, each family has their own unique rhythms. My kid goes to bed by 8 pm every night, but my friend puts her kids to bed later so she can grab some quality time after work. I let my kid drink juice and ginger ale. Another good friend doesn’t let her kid drink anything other than water or milk. Both my friends are loving parents, but we have our differences. I do my best to respect their parenting wishes when I’m with them and with their kids and they do the same for me. I appreciate that so much.
There are many different paths to being a good parent and I know that I have definitely learned some great tips for parents who do things differently than me. I’m grateful for their suggestions and their ideas that are out of the box and help me to look at parenting from a different perspective. It also helps me to know that I am not doing this journey alone, but that WE (yes, all of us!) are in it together.
So, my #Mommitment is this – to listen (and I mean really listen) and to take the time to hear and consider what other moms are doing and saying. We have to stick together and stand up for each other. One of the ways we can do that is by listening to each other.
Make your #Mommitment today and let’s stand by each other! Go sign the #Mommitment petition by clicking here.
