I think that I have written about advice giving before, but it was brought to my mind recently by one of my (many) pregnant friends. She was lamenting how everyone has all this advice to give her about her pregnancy, about what is the “best” to use…Gerber vs. Carter onesies, Arbonne vs. Mustela baby wash, and well, you get the idea.
And yeah, I admit that I have added to the big pile of advice from time to time, but I was remembering this article I read in a parenting magazine about someone who was going through the same thing. She was pregnant…receiving all this advice…wishing she could just figure it out on her own…and then after she had the baby, and started to figure out the products and methods that worked on her child, started to have those same urges to “share” that she so despised before the baby was born.
But you know, it is so true! There are things that become lifesavers for you…like our highchair with the seat cover that was comfy and it wipes off easily. Wow, was it nice to have something you didn’t have to remove and wash every time they spilled big globs of sweet potatoes. Or…I found that Aquaphor and creamy vaseline lotion work really well for my kids dry skin and it isn’t heavily scented. But that is for the Hammond kids…and while it was a great thing for us, it may not have any relevance for anyone else. But what do we do? We share the ideas anyways, because we actually figured something out, and it was a big deal to us!
So…I am asking forgiveness for all of us Moms who love to share advice…take it with a grain of salt, and please…just find out what works for your kids! And hey, if you come up with a really great idea about how to deal with bedhead or how to get your breastfed kid to take a bottle or how to get your toddler to eat their veggies…feel free to send it my way! 🙂
