Things I said I'd Never Do::52 Weeks of Blogging with a Purpose

This prompt is a good one.  Before we become parents we have this grand idea of how we will parent.  We envision our kids being the perfect ones and are so quick to criticize what we see others doing.  Once you become a mom, the game changes.  You realize that everyone has their days and while yeah there are still things I see and I know I will never allow such a thing to occur being a mom is humbling experience. I cant think of too many but the ones that come to mind were things I was very adamant about pre-kids.

1. Do Cry it Out

I always thought I wouldn't be the mom who did this, it seemed cruel and cold.  Well...que six months old and still waking to eat every 1-2 hours...yeah I was over it.  I still say I wouldn't do it before 6 months but in reality choosing to do this was one of the best parenting decisions I have made.  By six months L was waking so often and wanting to eat so much at night we were wearing thin.  I talked to his pediatrician and made sure there were no health issues that could be causing this and with her good graces we did it.  It was rough.  It was not fun.  But I loosely used the Mom's On Call method and within three nights he was sleeping 12 hours.  There were still nights he would wake up here and there but they were few and far between.

2. Have a Child Who Throws a Fit in Public

yeah this one... I swore it would never happen to me...big fat WRONG.  It has happened I mean the full on laid out on the floor screaming fit.  We quickly left the store and even still when he has his moments I don't subject others to his carrying on.  We leave.  Nothing is so important at a store or restaurant that we need to stay and allow that behavior.  Kids do this and I think you can teach them its unacceptable but it still happens from time to time.

3. Go in Public with  Mismatched Messy Child

Once again motherhood put me in my place.  Is it something that happens often? No, but sometimes you just need to run to the store and kids are messy creatures.  It happens.  We were quite the scene at Target the other day, all I could do was laugh about it.  I had gotten off work and swapped cars with the hubby and had to stop at Target for a few things.  Most days when we have to swap cars like this the hubby has fed and dressed L for the day.  Of course not this day.  I was weary and had clearly worked all night, L still had his footie jammies on, his hair all over the place and dried snot on his face. Yeah we had run out of wipes and I literally had nothing to clean him with. It was a scene and then he caused a scene such as mentioned in #2 as we were leaving.  Yeah it was fun.

4. Give my Child Fast Food/Junk

I always thought I would not be the mom to give my child sweets or junk food.  While its not the norm I do give him cookies and we do frequent the drive through from time to time. Not McDonalds though, I really hate that place. He really prefers healthier foods though and whenever he asks for a snack it usually is some kind of fruit. I think you have to have balance and the occasional junk will not hurt them. Plus, I love how happy he is when I give him a few cookies and chicken nuggets :)

5. Let my Child Watch TV More Than X Number of Hours

Well, this one went out the window long long ago!  TV, movies, and iPad are my lifesavers!! There is no way I could get half of what I do done and also work night shift without the above items.  He actually has learned A LOT from the ipad games and who doesn't love to just sit and watch TV I mean I know I do so why should I deprive my child of that? In all fairness I'm not raising a lazy couch potato we do play outside when the weather allows and read a lot of books but sometimes you just need technology!