Moms who have family immediately available as parental support are so lucky.
I was one of those moms. I had always lived close to my parents and my sister.
If I needed anything at all, like someone to take the overnight shift or a gopher to fetch prunes during a BM crisis, help was just a phone call away.
My village would do anything to support me at a moments notice… until my husband’s job moved us away from my beloved village.
When I found out I was pregnant with my third son, my other two boys were newly one and two years old.
We would get ALL the comments, “You sure have your hands full.”
“Do you know how a baby is made?”
“Was this baby planned?”
Is misbehavior a kid’s problem?
Not according to parenting coach and expert, Amy McCready.
A mother of two and a recovering yeller, Amy believes that a parent’s personality contributes to a child’s misbehavior.
Therefore, misbehavior is a parent’s problem!
It is important to recognize the parent’s role in children’s misbehavior and correct it.
I was your typical first-pregnancy mom.
My hospital bag was packed weeks in advance, my ‘labor songs’ playlist was made and I had briefed my husband on exactly how I wanted things to go.
I spent hours each day watching other women’s’ labor videos, I learned about the stages of labor, and all the technical names for absolutely everything.
Does anyone else love a good routine?
*raises hand enthusiastically*
Me, I do.
As a mom, they make me happy. And sane. Children can grow to expect the same general thing around the same time every day.
We aren’t robots, but routines help our day flow. Scientifically-proven, schedules are great for kids.
They help create expectations for their uncertain world. With my first baby, I was a Sleep Routine tyrant. She needed to be in her bed at the same time every day.
Our life functioned solely around her sleep schedule.
I was a little late to the motherhood party.
I had been single for long stretches of time as a young adult and had an intense career in medicine before I decided to get married and have kids.
I had been very fit for most of my adult life as I had a lot of time to claim as my own. I finished five marathons as an adult and was a varsity track athlete through most of high school.
Even though my kids are still young, I have already spent years taking them from one activity to another.
I started taking my first-born to playgroups regularly since he was about 6 months old.
I desperately needed that outing for him even more so after my second child arrived.
The refrigerator was one of those places in my home that was always neglected.
It was hard to find anything, and stuff got scattered around a lot.
Which means my family was wasting a lot of food because we forgot it was in there.
When I was pregnant with my son, I was so relieved when the first trimester was finally over. Morning sickness sucks and I was so over it.
I was also so excited about the new bouts of energy.
I don’t have to spout statistics at you when it comes to divorce rates – we all know that divorce is highly prevalent in our culture, especially for couples with children.
Is that a terrible thing? Not necessarily, since many couples decide to divorce in order to protect their children from a negative domestic environment.
However, this doesn’t guarantee an amicable divorce where everything is hunky-dory and the sharing of parental responsibilities is accepted in a respectful and agreeable manner.
