The Dictionary defines the word Parent as:
1. a persons father or mother
2. an animal or plant from which new ones derive
3. a source or origin of a smaller or less important part
4. an organization or company which owns or controls a number of subsidiaries
and it defines Parenting as :
1. to be or act as a mother or father to someone
If only it were that simple.
Sometimes I wonder if it wasn't simpler way back when before the onset of the Technological age or should I say the age of information, aka the internet.
Back then you only knew how you had been raised and maybe, just maybe you had access to Dr Spock's book about parenting. (That's Dr Benjamin Spock author of the 1946 best seller "Baby and Child Care" not Dr Spock from Star Trek fame.) He claimed mothers knew more than they thought they did and that parents should be more flexible and affectionate towards their children. This was a huge contrast to the conventional discipline your kids and don't spoil babies by picking them up when crying mentality.
Todays parents are inundated with contradictory information regarding all issues involved in raising a well adjusted kid via books, articles, forums, antenatal classes, not to mention mothers and mothers-in-law and of course don't forget the fellow first time parents (I say first time, cause usually by the time you have a second you realise its best to just follow your gut when it comes to raising your kid - and nothing gets done by any book anymore)
Breast or bottle. Schedule or demand. Co-sleep or cot. Cry-it-out or pick up. Dummy or no dummy. To smack or not to smack. These are just some of the heated debates and choices we are faced with.
To many choices.
Now if you know me at all, you may realise I might have a slight problem. You see I love absorbing new information, I loooooove reading and I am pretty interested in psychology. So you can just imagine how much parenting related info I have accumulated so far.
Secrets of the baby whisperer - Tracy Hogg
How children learn - John Holt
Seven spiritual laws of success for parents - Deepak Chopra
Living simply with children - Marie Sherlock
What all children want their parents to know - Diana Loomans
The emotional Life of the toddler - Alicia Lieberman
Love and logic magic for early childhood - Jim Fay
Baby Minds - Linda Acredolo
Baby Hearts and Baby signs
Baby sense and Feeding sense - Megan Faure
Secret Spiritual World of Children - Tobin Hart
Birth and Beyond - Yehudi Gordon
The A to Z guide to Raising Happy Confident Kids - Jenn Berman
Children are from Heaven - John Gray
Anyway I believe in order for me to make up my own mind about something it never hurts to learn what others think, that way I can take what I like, discard what I don't and be left with my very own opinion.
After all there is no right way and there is no wrong way, as long as you love them and are there for them everything will be OK.
So for me parenting is made easier by the knowledge I have tapped into. I think I would be totally lost if I had to go by gut alone. Or ironically maybe I wouldn't, maybe it would have been easier as the only voice I'd listen to then is my own. I'll never know.
To sum up - "To read or not to read" that is the question, and the answer is follow your gut. |
