Parenting

[SKT]

@EdH Thanks for this thread and already some great stuff here. I’ll put my thinking cap on if I can find it and make an effort to contribute. I can almost remember some good advice. For now I’ll paraphrase Mike Tyson…”everyone has a plan until they get hit in the mouth.” That’s pretty much been my parenting experience.

[EdH]

Mrs H read somewhere that they go through a ‘developmental leap’ at around 4 months of age, which involves their circadian rhythm resetting…

My evening has involved endlessly rocking the baby to renditions of ‘The Last Shanty’, which is a surprisingly effective lullaby (shame the sleeping afterwards only lasts for 2 minutes at a time).

But in my head was Sam L Jackson:

Ooop, she’s up again. 🥱

[goosehd]

@EdH

@goosehd said in Parenting:

Even the best we’ll laid plans will fall apart at a moments notice with no chance for a predictable outcome.

[goosehd]

Probably the best advice I can come up with is to be yourself, carry yourself with dignity and a respect for others, and don’t be an arse (all of the time).

Kids learn a lot by watching and want to emulate the ones that they love. Be that person and don’t be afraid to say I am wrong .

[SKT]

@goosehd Doesn’t get better than this in the parenting advice department. One thing I’ll add is that being a parent is almost as much about you relearning who you are and what you stand for as it is about “raising” the child. The self reflection gets intense…at least it has for me. But like Denis said, the modeling is where it’s at. Which is hilarious because by design they can bring out the worst in you.

[goosehd]

@SKT Complete agreement that the self realization of our own flaws can be intense at times. It’s a battle and I can honestly say that being a parent has made me a better person…(most days)

[SKT]

A better person (most days). About all we can ask for.

[Matt]

Sleeping is a tough one. I’m not sure how old they should be before you can start sleep training. We had a book we liked. I’ll get the name of it from Katie. It had lots of good stuff that worked for us.

[Matt]

The Sleep Easy Solution is what we used. Think she’ll need a little more time, 4 mos is too early for the intense stuff where they cry it out for a couple nights. It was tough but totally worth it. The book should have different strategies for different ages.

[Craneman]

there is no way. hold tight and hang on.
Patience before all else. you're the fucking adult. and humility. there's nothing like a faceful of baby piss to show your place in the order of things

[Matt]

@Craneman said in Parenting:

there is no way.

This is the way.

[Brian]

our lad is 6 now, and i still pinch myself each day as to where those 6 years have gone
we were thrown into the parenting lark with no prior training or knowledge ( we were booked in for new parents training 5 weeks before he was due to pop out of mums tummy but he decided at 6 weeks to go he was ready) a month in the hospital then home still needing to be fed through a tube and only weighing 2kg was a bit tough to start

lost count of the number of renditions of puff the magic dragon i have sung over the years to help him sleep

[Setanta]

[EdH]

@Matt Thanks. I think Mrs H has read them all at this point. Until this week, for the last month or so, Baby H had been quite good at going down at 8pm and staying down. We're transitioning her daytime naps to her own room, which was going well. Hopefully once Baby H is over this adjustment and we've figured out what her new sleeping patterns are we can get back to it!

[injunjack]

Heh.. I'm done parenting, Glad to be a grandad...

[Nocturama]

My daughter’s (20th) birthday card from last week seems pertinent at this stage…

[Paul9221]

I'm trying to figure out if parenting falls into "Hobbies" or "Pastimes" Seriously though, good idea for a thread!

I have one that took me too long to learn, that is possibly related to @Matt 's "I need a timeout" post. Make sure that your kids learn that you are not super-human. Make sure that they know that you also have bad days, and that you also go through tough times, and that that's okay. If or when they are blessed with their own kids later in life, and they're going through a hard time with them, they won't think that they're bad parents, they'll remember that they're human like you.

I had a friend who struggled with depression in his twenties. When he finally spoke with his mother about it, she revealed that she had always struggled with depression but didn't want him to know. Had he known, he could have shared his struggles with her and felt much less alone in that battle.

[EdH]

@Paul9221 said in Parenting:

I'm trying to figure out if parenting falls into "Hobbies" or "Pastimes"

Depends on how much of a deadbeat dad or miscreant mom you are...

[EdH]

@Craneman said in Parenting:

there's nothing like a faceful of baby piss

I learned early, aim baby sideways on from you when changing her... and in my case it wasn't piss.

Then she got me on the hand and sprayed it all up the wall. Second thing I learned - keep the soiled nappy in place to act as a barrier while you do the necessary butt wiping.

[AdamC]

Great thread @EdH I am sure I will pick up some great tips and some much needed laughs from this thread! I had to take my girl to nursery for the first time on Friday, it was absolutely carnage, I could hear the nursery before I saw it, all of the babies were crying louder than ive ever heard, one of them seemed like they were staring at me to rescue them as I dropped mine off , who was conveniently joining in the hysterics, all while the key worker was casually trying to have a quiet conversation with me. I was like a deer in the headlights. Not sure what I expected and I have a huge respect for these nursery workers, listening to your own child cry is one thing but a room full of other peoples kids takes some serious mettle. She had a good day by all accounts thankfully, and now the mrs has 2 days of well earned chill time during the week before she goes back to work