Parenting Advice

Everyone knows when you're pregnant you can expect a lot of advice.

What I didn't know was that I could ignore about half of it. Just because someone had a baby (including me) doesn't mean they know everything about raising one!

Some things that stuck to me were so random. Like someone told me I shouldn't get or make the cute closet dividers to separate Jane's clothes (newborn, 3 months, 6 months, etc.) because HER daughter's clothes never made it out of the clean laundry basket. So why waste the money?

For some reason I listened, and Jane's closet is a bigger mess because of it.

I will admit that I don't hang up much of Jane's clothes (mostly because the closet is a jumble thanks to no organization system on my part!), but I do put them away in drawers consistently (i.e., the basket system for baby laundry doesn't work for me).

Also I read a lot of "you'll never pluck your eyebrows again" or "you'll look upon a hot shower as a rare treat," etc. Maybe those will be true when I have a toddler (and/or an out-of-town husband), but right now I still have time for showering and whatever grooming I might feel like doing (which isn't much, but that's not a reflection of parenting/motherhood ... it's a reflection of my sheer laziness).

Some people mean well. Some people just want to make themselves feel better about their parenting choices. Some people are just know-it-alls who always have the right answer. And it might be possible for someone to be all three.

But I am finding more and more to trust the well-worn advice: "Trust your instincts. You know more than you think you do."

(But I still need to get Jane on a better sleep schedule/routine during the day!)