My Advice To You, Mama!
Parenting these days is so much about upping each other in being what you think is THE perfect Mother. You spend so many hours stressing about what your child is putting in their body, putting on their body, watching too much of, watching to little of. It is stressful AF and to be honest, useless. Your child isn't going to think back about their childhood and be like, oh thank goodness my mom limited my screen time and only fed me organic, forcing me to eat only raw vegetable because thats what 'studies show' is best. I ate kraft dinner every day with canned cocktail weiners for my entire childhood. We drank pop (with orange juice) for breakfast, and were allowed tv's in our room. I turned out pretty damn fantastic and am living a healthy and active life.So, to all you moms out there stressing about making sure your children have the $200 shoes that will give them perfect posture and the $40 sunscreen that won't cause cancer, this one is for you!
STOP reading Facebook studies
Most of the time they aren't even written by a medical doctor and to be honest, you don't need that stress and doubt on your motherhood plate.
STOP stressing about what your kids put in their mouth
As long as it isn't a choking hazard, I always think go for it. From dropped soothers, to the dirt from your veggie garden, it will only help your child develop a better immune system.
STOP worrying about the screen time your child has
In a day and age where screens and technology is EVERYWHERE, (kids are learning coding at like 3 years old) we need to worry more about the content that they are watching, not the amount. And to be honest, our son has learned so much about the world through The Magic School Bus so I'm like, go to town watching it.
STOP disinfecting your house to the extreme
We have never disinfected our home, besides like chicken juice obvi. and our 4 year old has had a 4 hour stomach bug once in his life (he also goes to daycare) so just stop.
STOP freaking out about your child touching a public areas floor
We look as this as a free flu shot. They get just enough of any germs on the surface to build up immunity AND they are happier kids because aren't cooped up. which brings me to my next point.
STOP watching your kids like a hawk
Helicopter Parenting doesn't help anyone. The one and only Facebook study I have ever really read was about a study done at Harvard I think, where they allow children at a very young age to play unsupervised so that they could learn to problem solve their way out of situations they may put themselves in. You know, like we adults have to do EVERY GOD DAMN DAY! So, let them learn that important life skill as early as possible and let them get out in your back yard with out you hovering. If they get stuck in a tree, test them to see what they figure out on their own to solve that situation. If they fall, watch them get back up! It's called real life people!
STOP freaking out about what they eat
If my son wants to eat chicken nuggets for supper every day this month, I'm going to let him because I'd rather he have some food in his belly that is half nutritious, than becoming scarily underweight because I am forcing food he doesn't want or like onto him. Its just like the breastfeeding drama these days. It should only matter that your child is being fed enough, with happy belly, not the specifics.
STOP comparing yourself to all the other moms
You know whats right for YOUR kids. It actually is scientific. So, stop comparing. You do you. And no one knows how to teach or to discipline your children better than you. If time outs work even though "studies show they isolate kids" do the GD time out. Be your own parental advice. And if your baby weight came off slower than Suzy down the road, so what. Those extra curves look amazing on you and you should rock them with confidence.We should all take a page out of our parents 80's and 90's playbook. their biggest worries in life were keeping us un-pregnant and away from drugs. So, give them the chips, turn the tv on and have fun with your kids.