I enjoyed this article. Such truth! It's so hard to be a parent when we are overwhelmed with information - some relevant, some not-so-relevant. We live in such complicated times. Parenting used to be a heart and soul matter, where parents were required to look to themselves, their own mothers and fathers and the Bible to keep their children safe, healthy and happy. Now, parenting is ruled by "experts", studies and self-help books. Every decision we make is wrong in somebody's eyes. Every move we make will have studies for it and against it. There's no right anymore.
Here are some things that confuse me as a parent:
*sunscreen I know, right? Kids in Canada are Vitamin D deficient. Sun is good for them. But, gak, what about skin cancer? Does the Vitamin D need outweigh the risks of a possible cancer and chemical laced sun screen?
*discipline. To spank or not to spank, that is the question. Time out to cool down, or is that emotional deprivation (as some "experts" say)? Take away privileges, or is that emotional blackmail?
*crap food. My word for processed dinners and empty calories. How much is too much? When is it okay to crack open the KD? What if I top it with real cheese and sneak some pureed squash in there?
*routines. Is there security in routine, or are we training our children to be inflexible?
Geez. No wonder I'm stressed.
What are your parenting questions and dilemmas? Leave a comment!
3 comments:
Sunscreen is a no for us unless we are heading out for a full day in the sun. My girls never got 1 sunburn this summer and I never put sunscreen on them once. Limiting the time spent out is the best way for us.
I have alot of the same concerns as you. I just do what I think is right. A new thing that I'm faced with is flouride. Recently, I've seen articles and videos about the dangers of it and I just signed a consent form for Abby to have the flouride rinse at school. Now, I'm wondering do I send a note saying take her out of the program or leave her in it. I'm almost too tired to look into the matter because everywhere you look on the internet you never know what is truth and what isn't. Next week it will be something different anyways.
Thanks, now I'm stressed! ;)
Sorry, Kendra! Didn't mean to stress you out :P Yeah, I don't know about fluoride, either. Are you on a town well? I know some municipalities put fluoride in their drinking water, but that might just be bigger cities...I never took it in school, but I can't remember if they had it way back in the old days.
Emilie, I worry about all of the same things. I've started giving Baby Girl naps at the same time each day, and when I hear her cry for those few minutes before she falls asleep, I worry that I'm undoing all the good I've done as far as creating a bond with her via breastfeeding, baby-wearing, etc. But when I go back to work, the sitter will be expecting her to fall asleep on her own, so she needs to learn sometime.
Another big thing with me is what products are safe to use on the children. Great, they're supposed to use sunscreen, but most of the readily available ones aren't safe according to the EWG website. So instead this summer, I paid a small fortune for a type that they approved of. Is this really necessary? In a few years, will there be something in the "healthy" sunscreen that will suddenly be taboo? We ended up spending most of the summer indoors, simply because I was too paranoid to lather Baby Boy up, and Baby Girl was too young for sun screen. And then I worried that they weren't getting enough fresh air.
Sometimes it feels like I can't win! Life is all about second guessing myself these days.
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