You get lots of parenting advice when you become a parent. Some of the advice is outdated (“Mom! I’m sorry, but you allowed me to sleep in a drawer, but we will use a crib”), or hilarious (“Enjoy every minute!” I’m referring to the moment when my daughter is shouting in the produce aisle because her goal is to adopt a sweet potato as her ?”). pet.
Sometimes, however, you get good advice. It is advice that you can trust and which calms and guides you as you navigate the daily challenges of raising children. This is the advice we received from Offspring Facebook members.
“Survive, Advance!”
“During the newborn stage, my husband loved to say ‘Survive, advance.’ This basically means, just take each day as it comes. You can’t control anything. Change, feed, and sleep. This was our motto for our second child. It was also his favourite advice to other parents.” –Elizabeth D.
“You don’t need to love it.”
This was an eye-opener for my eyes. It’s not all fun about being pregnant or having a child. Too often, people try to make it seem glamorous and magical, but it is actually a lot more poop, spit-up and crying. Every stage has its bad parts. You can be happy with not loving everything, and it will allow you to be kind to yourself as a parent.” –Britt S.
“Your child is not giving you a difficult time. They are having a difficult time.”
“My child has always been full of big emotions. This phrase helps me to focus my attitude on ‘How can he help me?’ rather than ‘OMG! he’s driving us crazy’.” –Amykate C.
“This is finite.”
“When you feel exhausted or in the middle of a meltdown tell yourself that this is finite. Take a deep breath, and you will get through it.” –Jenny M.
“Pause.”
“Always take a moment to pause before you run to help. This has attracted many strange looks from the playground but also made it much more independent and adventurous for children.” –Clovis S.
“Take any parenting plan that you have and toss it out the window.”
“I can’t recall who said it to my, but now I will say it to anyone who has their first. “Things will change almost instantly.” –Eric F.
“Parenting is not as important as we think.”
I read an article which showed that parenting has very little influence on the adult life of your child. My job was to help my child discover his true self and support him in becoming the best version of himself. I now focus less on the small things that used to make me panic, such as what diaper I should use or enrichment activities for flashcards and standardized exams. Instead of worrying about the details, I can now focus on the question: Drew is Drew the best Drew? “Am I helping Drew to become a functional adult? Am I paving the way for Drew to become the adult Drew he desires to be?” –Julie C.
