Parenting

I just finished reading one of the best articles about parenting. I was reading an article from Today's Parent one of Canada's parenting magazines. I have been getting the magazine ever since I was pregnant with my first, Peyton, who is 4 years old now. The article was called Words of Wisdom by John Hoffman. I really enjoyed the sense that he speaks about in his article. I really find he speaks a lot about how I parent and how I feel about parenting as a whole.

He talks about expert advice and says this "Experts are not experts on your kids. YOU ARE!" This is exactly right. Parenting is not an exact science that you can say well just sleep train them, put them in timeout, don't spank, don't co-sleep, don't hold them too much, and whatever you do listen to what I am saying. With saying all of that I have strong beliefs about certain ways I do things but this is the way I do them not everyone else. I don't think there is one way to do things, each child is unique and requires you to do things different and being the first, second or even third child plays and roll in how you parent too. I also don't want to discourage parents from reading and learning more and more about what parenting advice is out there because you may use some of what they are saying or use nothing but being open to learning about what else is out there makes and helps make you a better parent.

I also find that not just experts make us questions or feel guilty about how we parent but family, friends and even complete strangers. Someone always knows how to fix your problems with you and your baby or child. I remember being a first time parent and feeling all the pressure and advice coming from everywhere and how overwhelming it is and how much you just want to scream and say "This is our child and we are going to do what we want to do." Now I find that I really empathize with new parents and don't ever want to be that person who tells them how to do it. I find when I hear someone else saying well I think they shouldn't hold the baby to much or just critising how they are doing things I will often say....... "It is really hard being a first time parent and not everything is easy and we don't know everything. If they make mistakes they will be their mistakes which is the way it should be." My mom and my sister and I all parent different and we are different and I do what suits me and my sister does what suits her. We don't agree on some parenting but we do agree that we all do things the way we think they should go, the best we know how and the best for our kids.

I like to read Today's Parent because I find it informational, hilarious, helpful, and encouraging. I want to keep informed about today's parenting practices and use or not use what I read about. I hope you keep being informed. I know you do know what you are doing because if I was to ask anyone about your kids you would be the expert.

Autism and Immunizations

I just recently watched an episode of Private Practice on television and was quite taken with the content. The episode was about a young boy who contacted measles. His older brother has Autism and he had not been immunized because his mother felt that immunizing in some part caused her oldest son's Autism. I will not spoil the story for you but I had tears. As a parent, I never questioned getting my children immunized. I thought to myself I am not a doctor or nurse they know more about that kind of stuff than I would. How many parents choose not to give their children immunizations? I am one of the people who choose to give my children vaccinations. I would like to here from other parents and how they fill on this issue.

1. Should we vaccinate our kids?
2. Is the risk of not getting vaccinated way worse than the alternative?
3. Is there a link between vaccination and autism?
4. Should it be mandated that we all are immunized?

I have done some searching and found a lot of information on the web. Here are the first I searched and briefly scanned.

1. An article at CTV.ca supporting the issue that autism is not caused by immunizations.
2. A site in which parents of autistic children discuss their change in their children after immunizations called Think Twice.

Before seeing this episode on Private Practice I also have seen Jenny McCarthy on several television shows speaking about her son's autism. She speaks out about her struggle with parenting and autism.

I don't know what my final decision is on this matter but I am interested to hear what other parents have to say about it.

I put out a message on Twitter and received two messages back. Thank you for sending back some links.
1. Vaccination News or Age of Autism - Website based on the Autism Epidemic.
After skimming over the site it seems to me that I should try to become more informed since my son Peyton has had 10 febrile seizures starting just before his first birthday. I am glad to say that his seizures have caused him no known affects as we can see right now.

My kids are addicted to dip.

I love dips and my husband loves dips and we have two kids that love to dip too. At first it started out trying to get Peyton to eat chicken or some other kind of meat. I have found that pretty much everything is dipped now. He will even dip his mashed potatoes in ranch dressing. I find if we don't give him the dip right away he will eat his potatoes and vegetables without dip (of course not all the time). We have even named the dips Spiderman, Buzz, and even Jessy. We did this to convince Peyton to eat his meat. We have convinced Peyton to eat his supper several times using lots of different techniques. As for my daughter, Rayna, I think she just started because she saw Peyton had some. She is convinced that whatever big brother does she has to do to. I don't think that I have to take all dips away but we do try to limit them. Sometimes, we even try not to give them.

I love to dip and my husband loves to dip so I can understand why our kids love to dip. We are just a dipping family. If I can say just this..... We at least dip together.

Soother or Not?

The question is out there as parents do you give your child a soother or not. We have many questions as parents but this is a very simple one for myself since both my kids did not want soothers. As for my future children I guess we will see what they choose.

Peyton(boy) is three years old and never wanted a soother. I think he took it 3 or 4 times for a short amount of time. He either gagged or pushed it out right away. My little girl, Rayna, is one and she sucks her thumb. We tried a soother on and off but she would also gag and push it out. She would rather have her thumb.

It is very obvious that babies love to suck, it is soothing for them. I breast feed both my babies for one year. I sometimes would let them use me as a soother for soothing them at night or during the day when they were having a fussy time. Some people don't agree with doing this but it was a great way to soothe them and comfort them. I also found that I enjoyed that bonding time. Maybe this is also why my kids did not take a soother since I was that for them. I was there comfort instead of a soother.

I wonder what the ratio of kids that have soothers to who don't is. Take my survey.

I have found that Rayna sucking her thumb has made it easier to lay down to go to sleep than what Peyton was. He was a lot of work. I have noticed with friends and family that kids that have soothers do tend to lay down easier and fall asleep easier too. This is totally understandable since they have that soothing sucking which they have loved since they were babies.
I have also noticed that when the first born has a soother usually the second will too. Now is this because parents have got used to the first having a soother it is just natural to give the second one too or is it just genetics that they both love the soother or is it just coincident.

My findings are not true to everyone since these are only my experiences with babies, soothers, and sleep. Please let me know about your experiences and feelings on this issue as parents. Please take the survey?