Do I Parent Correctly??
I was on the computer last night and a friend I haven't talked to forever came online. We im'd each other confirming that we both were still alive. I guess picking up a phone in today's world would be too much like right.One of the first things I said to her was "After three kids you really don't know anything about parenting." My friend was quiet and then said, "Please don't tell me that." Aaahh me and tact go hand in hand. She was about to tell me she is pregnant with her second child. I then had to backup and explain to her why she would actually know how to parent since it was only her second kid.
When you have your first child you really are an idiot. You wonder stupid things while others wonder how you are keeping your child alive. Their first birthday is really more a celebration for you, not because your baby is entering toddlerhood, but because your baby lived an entire year - in your care. By the second kid you are pretty good. You hear a cry, quickly assess the situation and have a happy baby. Then by the third child you are so convinced your kids are out to kill you that all rational thinking and parenting skills have flown out the window.
My oldest son is on vacation with my parents for a couple weeks so it is just me and the other two. I put the middle boy to bed early last night. He didn't have a nap and is a total bear in daycare if he doesn't get enough zzzs. I put the youngest into bed. For some wild reason I decided instead of nazi parenting the baby, I would do attachment parenting. I will admit he is the most laid-back of all three boys. So I put him in my bed and I get onto the computer (which is in my bedroom). He was fine at first and then he was crying and fussing and whining. I would calmly say "Lay down please". This went on for a long time. I finally went over to him....okay well did you know that if your child drinks 24 ozs of milk in a 2 hour time frame - they will pee out of their Huggies overnights and drench their pajamas.
If this had been my first child I would have immediately ran to him on the first cry, got him a new diaper, fresh jammies and snuggled him while apologizing for being an idiot. My second child would have been tended to after a couple minutes minus the apologies. Poor poor forgotten third child....after an hour I finally got him a fresh diaper, didn't bother with clean jammies (just left him naked) and left him with a "Now go to sleep".
I have a lady coming over tonight who is conducting a study on toddler safety in the home. I'm glad this isn't for a grade. I'm pretty confident I would fail. With my first child there were outlet covers, door knob covers, removal of tables, no uncovered cords, follow closely behind anytime he walked on a hard surface and offered a huge ice pack and cookie to any tiny bump because *I* should have prevented that. My second child got outlets covers and cuddling for injuries because I felt bad not doing a full-blown safety check. Aaah but the third. Nothing is covered, removed or secured. I have figured out exactly which stance or movement will cause them to fall off a high object. I have used the line "If you put that in your mouth and choke and die mommy will be very mad." Did you know that a child can get shocked just by pressing their finger down hard on an outlet?!?! The wonders. Soooo I guess this lady will assess my home and offer me free home safety supplies. I really hope it's nothing my older boys can injure each other with.
posted by Three Boys and a Crazy Lady @ 7:17 AM
1 Comments:
You know what they say, huh?
First child you are so overprotective that if the binky falls on the ground, you throw it in the trash and get a new one.
Second child you are still protective but instead of throwing binky away, you blow it off or stick in your own mouth to clean it.
Third child. By now you are so tired of keeping up with binkies you just give them knives to play with.
You are a SUPER mom. Never doubt it. I'm still waiting for you have some conference thingy where we all go sans kids and hang out and pretend to have classes and we really don't and we're scared of pictures being posted on the internet and you have no idea who paid the pizza guy. hmmm..Las Vegas sounds like a good place to have this thingy!! Sign me up.
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