Once you’ve got that bundle of joy in your arms, the next thing you may notice is the nearly overwhelming plethora of people who, knowingly or not, want to give you advice about how you should care for it.
Of course, you expect advice and comment from pretty much everyone related to your addition; but advice probably will seem to come out of everywhere! And, if the internet is to be believed, you’ve most likely already screwed this kid up for good… UNLESS you send in $100 for their elixir or salve or book or blanket or crib or… or, or, or!
Honestly, there are some advice you can respectively listen to but then discard. I’ve written about several… but it took several posts to do it.
4 Posts in "Parenting Advice" Series
- Parenting Adivce to Ignore: Intro/Index – 8 May 2014
There is advice and there is advice. New parents, especially first time parents, find that there are more than enough "experts" willing to offer advice about how you "should" do this and that raising your children. Especially you "generation Z" parents, who routinely trust internet more than people, should be pretty circumspect about who you listen to. Here are some examples of advice, that you may want to take with more than a grain of salt.
- Part 1 - Internet - Crying – 10 May 2014
Parenting advice, it comes from everywhere. If you listened to everyone and tried to follow everything you could well be institutionalized within the week. Pretty much EVERYTHING on the internet comes with an "agenda" which is RARELY (Ok, pretty much never) totally in your best interest. Are you safe to ignore it?
- Part 2 - Babysitter - Saying "no" – 22 May 2014
If you thought that you got a lot of parenting advice from people BEFORE the baby was born, just wait and see how many "well wishers" make contact with you after the little one arrives. This part TWO covers a bit more of advice you can ignore.
- Part 3 - Soft spot - crying – 3 Jun 2014
Parenting advice – something that we all probably need at one time or another; but, something that is awfully easy to get tired of. Here is some more "stuff not to stress about."
If you want more information about parenting, I’ve written several posts you can use the search box to find on this site; AND, there is a whole series of guest posts by Dr. Greg Barrett.
[This site is one of those “blogspot” sites which is still there (including my referenced page) but is no longer actively added too – which thing makes me sorry for you… Alas, her last post was in 2019… You really should have seen it in its day!]
How does a non-confrontational parent discipline her boys? Click on the link above or below to give it a read; and see one mother’s experience trying to raise a “tribe” of four boys—especially as they turn into teenagers.
[http://tovskytwins.blogspot.com/2009/12/disciplinarian.html]
Of all the aspects of parenting, discipline holds the most fear in the hearts of parents. Some of that may be due to a misunderstanding of the difference between discipline and punishment, some due to an unclear understanding of the role of “parent, and some due to a lack of role model.
Or, it could be any one of a million different issues (perhaps I do exaggerate just a bit.)
This short series only considers the one aspect and began when I found a post by another author entitled “discipline in a non-confrontational parent”; a schizophrenic concept if ever I heard one. I just had to read it.
4 Posts in "Discipline" Series
- Discipline Series: Intro/Index – 1 Jan 2014
Of all the parts of parenting, discipline is the single most unpleasant and difficult. This series contains posts which are strictly about discipline, it's why and how.
- Discipline in a Non-Confrontational Parent (link) – 3 Jan 2014
I found a web post about being a "non-confrontational" parent and discipline. The two concepts are so... so... oddly disparate it almost seems schizophrenic. I found the post interesting enough to recommend the read. She's stopped posting now; but, the post is still there.
- Parenting: Discipline – 7 Dec 2017
Discipline isn't easy as a parent. Teaching about it isn't easy as a doctor. And, writing about it, isn't easy as a columnist either. Every circumstance is different and every child is different; but we've learned a lot of lessons over the years about how to make it easy(er) on everyone concerned. Here are several.
- Discipline and Natural Consequences – 3 Feb 2018
A colleague of mine, Dr. Greg Barrett, has written quite a bit about discipline and I have too. We have similar philosophies but what would it look like if we should share a case together and discuss our approaches. Would we agree? Would there be things you could learn from our discussion? Let's see!
If you’d like to read about other parenting issues, I suggest you immerse yourself in the guest-post series by Dr. Greg Barrett which I’ve posted on this site rather than loose his well-spent efforts to a web-site-flipper camping on his abandoned site.
I met 13 year-old Shawn (not his real name) semi-conscious in the intensive care unit many years ago.
He had been dumped off on the front lawn of his foster home, stuporous, by some kids who sped away in their car.
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[Believe me, this parenting technique works! Even now, this many years since the article was first written. I’ve updated a couple of references to books, but that’s all. Use this especially when you are trying to solve some concern about a relationship.]
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We have discussed several times in previous articles parenting aspects of how to travel with children and enjoy it. But what happens when of necessity children travel alone?
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I have had several requests to discuss stress in children and parenting aspects.
While it may have been true in times past that childhood was carefree and fun… (more…)
After many years I can still picture in my mind a little nine-year-old boy standing by the isolette containing his two-week old baby brother.
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OK, if you’ve been a reader of this column in the past, I know you can do it; so put on your white coat, get your stethoscope and let me watch how you “see” this next patient.
Picking up the chart you see that he is a new patient to you, named Ryan. He is eight years old, and he lives with his mother who has been divorced for four years.
The nurse has taken his height, weight, and temperature (which were all normal) and has written on the chart “Fevers for six months!”
As you enter the room, you find him to be a red-headed youngster sitting curled up (more…)
[This is really not just a Christmas article! It’s an article which makes most of us very contemplative. It is about an exceedingly important part of parenting – which happened to be written at Christmas.]
A lot of articles this time of year (Christmas) begin with the phrase (more…)
Not too long ago I took some fishing “Rods” (a couple of my neighborhood fishing buddies aged 14 and 18) to a special trout river in Arizona.
The automobile trip was long and hot, and my nerves were raw from the rock music blasting from (more…)
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