What Advice Did You Ignore?
One of the things I hated about being a new parent was allll the advice that came out of nowhere. We were lucky in that our friends and family were actually pretty good about being asked before offering their thoughts, but there was no shortage of
Mine was,’Breastfeeding is something private, between you and the baby.’ Ummm, really? Do you eat all your meals in private?
My favorite was, “Hold the baby.” Please. As if.
No, really, it was all the advice on sleep. Everyone had an opinion — but the people who were most vehement about it were our friends without kids. Weird.
My favorite advice came from my mother…”Why don’t you go style your hair? You know, make it curl?” This came about two weeks after I had my son. Um, go style my hair??! Really?? Then, a few years later when my son was a toddler and all three of us were in the car, I was having a conversation with my son. Mom’s sage words: “You don’t have to reply to EVERY thing he says.” Uh, okay, I’ll just ignore him. Aaaack!!!
I always got hat advice….he should be wearing one, or shouldn’t be wearing one. Whatever.
my favorites from pregnancy:
* that i shouldn’t be watching scary movies because it could frighten the baby.
* that i shouldn’t be wearing dresses because my belly could get cold and make the baby sick.
* that i was a bad mother for getting my 20-week ultrasound, because ultrasounds scramble brain waves and are the equivelant of sticking my baby in a micowave!
whoot whoot, great advice people!
i especially love the men and childless women who dish out this kind of crap. that’s the absolute best.
;-D
I think most of the advice I ignored was advice that failed to take into account that babies are people, albeit new people, and aren’t all the same. I had one friend tell me to vacuum the baby’s room while he was sleeping, as she had done, to “get him used to noise” and make him a deep sleeper. Um, is it possible that your son started out a deep sleeper? When you start with a baby who wakes up and starts screaming every time you walk by his room, it’s just not gonna work to vacuum under his crib.
Em – I wish I’d heard that! I wish it worked! I’d love to have had a lazy baby!
When pregnant, from a sales lady in the maternity department: Don’t take naps while pregnant or you’ll have a lazy baby.
Same for me. Keep them out they will be fine, you shouldn’t be stuck at home at 8. Um, no I shouldn’t I should have a friend willing to come sit and watch TV and maybe pick a baby up if it cries. All my friends are childless.