On Parenting

I used to be one of those people that looked at people with children with scorn and made loud, rude remarks when kids misbehaved in shopping centres. I was the one that asked waiters to throw the monkeys out when parents couldn't keep their kids under control in restaurants. Most of all, i swore i would never breed. EVER.

Then i did. While Shae was still baking, I had all the intentions of raising the perfect child. Organic, home cooked baby food, breast feeding til Shae was 2, no dummies, no tv, no computer, educational motzart cd's and toys to increase her IQ in exact proportion to the decreasing of my bank balance.

Fast Forward to almost 2 years post spawning...

Well. All that went out the window. i HATED breast feeding. Hated every second of it. It pissed me off and depressed me that some woman just got it right and loved it, cooing and bonding with their lil bundles of joy, while Shae and i found every fckn feed a struggle. It lasted 5 months and i do not regret putting her on formula for one second. all of a sudden we're both more relaxed and the bonding can begin.

Home cooked baby food? Haha. Shae tried my lovingly prepared butternut mash once and refused to eat it ever again. to this day she won't eat butternut. So purity it was. and to my shock and horror and against everything i'd been told, the evil, evil pre-prepared food had NO ill effects at all! To be quite honest, seeing food not made by you spat out onto the floor is also a lot less painless than seeing food you spent ages preparing regected.

As for the dummy, hells bells, i look after her all day and then work nights, sometimes hectic long hours. if giving her a dummy when she goes to sleep means that we both sleep better and can get through a day with the minimum tears and sleep deprived tantrums, so be it. screw anyone who wants to take this small piece of comfort away from Shae. it's a rough world out there, give her (and me) a break!!

As for no TV, listen buddy, i know that it's not healthy for any child to spend hours in front of the tv, but if sitting her down to watch the Tigger Movie means i can get the dishes washed and have a shower, then that's how it's gonna work around here!

And the one thing i've heard my fair share of in the last 2 or so years is bullshit. complete and utter bullshit. From being asked if i'd had (OMG GROSS!) breastmilk running down my legs, to being told that pink food colouring has given my child a "touch of ADD", i think i've heard it all. well, at least it's kept me amused.

So next up is toilet training. looking forward to the next round of bullshit and old wives tales that go with that!!