Oh, the human condition…to exert our will over any others’ will, whether or not my will is “right, legit, founded, or even sane.” It’s the ultimate struggle that you will have as that precious little one’s parent from their infancy until death do you part. Seriously. Oh, sorry! This is supposed to be encouraging! Well, here it comes!! 🙂
We parents will more than likely fall into the trap of believing that our 0-12 month old has legitimate opinions based on reasoning and logic. Ultimately we believe they have the life experience and personal inventory to decide whether or not they “like” something or not. Yes, that’s a broad assumption. BUT we are two fairly intelligent girls (on a good day) who have fallen into this trap over and over again, especially when dealing with our infants, toddlers, and, for Rebecca, her elementary aged kids.
We ALL do it. We all think that there is a “magic recipe” for making our little ones “happy”, forget the fact that it may not be sane, healthy, reasonable, respectful, or even helpful for your parenting down the road. So, they have to have their perfect blanket, the right stuffed animal, the amber necklace around their neck, the ONE pacifier they love, the perfect music, the perfect WHATEVER…and then all will go smoothly. Right? You tell yourself that, right? 🙂 We know you do! Because we did too!
So, how do you help expand your infant’s world (and soon to be crawler, toddler, preschooler, schooler, etc) so they are able to experience different things without being “jaded” to new experiences? How do you, as the parent, maintain control of your home, while allowing your child age-appropriate room to make decisions and exert independence? And how do you keep yourself from asking the inevitable “is what I’m doing as a parent OKAY with you?” If we had a $1 for every time a parent asked this question to their children somewhere in the world, well, Bill Gates would literally look poor in comparison. LOL!
Take a moment to watch Erin and Rebecca discuss this “touchy” topic. LIKE our video, SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel, and LEAVE A COMMENT below…do you do this too? 🙂
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And until next post- may the parenting force be with you!
Hugs!
E&R