Best Parenting Advice You've Been Given

  • Thread starter Thread starter DisorientingSneeze
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

DisorientingSneeze

Guest
Recently our Moms’ group brought in some more seasoned moms to offer advice, encouragement and answer questions about raising kids in the faith. There were so many quality takeaways from it (I’ll share a few in this thread).

What is some of the best parenting advice you’ve been given?
 
I often fixate on whether I’m even really qualified to teach another human, much less these four clean little souls how to pray and how to enter into a relationship with Jesus. Growing up.in a lukewarm household it can feel like I’m trying to teach them a language I didn’t grow up speaking.

One of the moms pointed out that you can set your older children up with a spiritual director. That idea gave me such peace.
 
Last edited:
We must tell our children what they need to know. Not what they want to hear.
We must teach our children to respect others, even through whom they do not like.
We must teach our children to love God and to treat others as they would have others treat them.
 
Ok. this does not make sense. But the best advice I’ve been given is to not follow the advice of others so much. I think we all generally make the best choices in parenting for our kids and family. We alone know our kids and our faith and our family best. Spank or not, cosleep or not, vaccinate or not, homeschool or not, daycare or not, organic food or not… Only we are really in position to have the knowledge about our kids to effectively make a decision on parenting.
 
A very wise mentor once told me “about the time you have figured out how to be a good parent, you’re out of a job”.
 
It is easier to start off hard (stern and firm) and let up, than it is to start off soft (overly obliging) then have to crack down.
 
Don’t try to treat your kids equally. Treat them fairly. I read this regarding taking care of baby twins but it applies in many situations with multiple kids. For example if one kid needs to be held a lot and the other is ok chilling on the playmat, there’s no reason to try to make sure that you hold them both for exactly X hours a day.
 
Kids do ridiculous and completely random things for no apparent reason.
 
Don’t ever compare your children to one another.

Let your children overhear you complimenting or praising them to someone else on a job well done.
 
Do not start anything with a baby/young child that you’re not willing to continue for 18 years.

For me, that was rocking a child. I don’t like doing it. So I never rocked babies. I held them, I walked with them (ah, for those days when my knee didn’t hurt!)–but I didn’t rock them. Turned out to be a good thing–no rocking chairs in ice skating rinks!

Seriously, it’s a good rule. E.g., if you don’t want your child to become a TV addict–don’t let them watch TV non-stop when they’re babies/toddlers–ever, even when someone is sick.

If you don’t want to sing all the verses of a long song at bedtime, don’t start it. Pick a short little song instead.

If you don’t want your kids to eat junk, don’t feed it to them, ever. I personally think this one will fall by the wayside if the child ever spends any time with anyone else besides Mom and Dad–junk food is so tasty! But at least at home, if you want your children to be junk-food free, you can just never start it with toddlers.
 
Last edited:
Consistency! Be consistent with/in everything. If something is good/bad/praiseworthy/etc one time (and is just of course) it is every time. And that’s not just for behavior. But potty training, weaning for the breastfeeding moms, praying, and the like.
 
So much I could share…

Don’t try to be their friend. Friendship comes when they are adults. Doesn’t mean you can’t be a friendly parent. Be their parent, have reasonable rules and stick to them. Remember that when you ground them, you are also grounding yourself. Play with them when you want to, but don’t become their playmate. Let spending time with them doing nothing bring out the inner child in you (go for a walk in the rain and splash in all the puddles–and then chuckle when they send you a picture of themselves doing that while in college). Put your phone down and enjoy spending time with them. They are truly only young for a short time and it really does pass by in the blink of an eye.

Contrary to an earlier poster, I loved rocking my baby. It gave me time in the evenings to decompress, but that’s me 😉 It wasn’t long before she was scrambling down and hopping into bed without any rocking necessary.

Buy used books at garage sales and let them “read” them. Get a library card if you don’t already have one (and when school starts get them their own library card).

Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing, made decisions based on what’s best for your family!
 
Last edited:
Hoosier-Daddy said:
Lol. Case in point.
Click to expand...
I mean, I agree with most of what you said. You know your kid better than the latest trendy parenting blog, so trust yourself.

I think that breaks down when it comes to reviewing medical data and research, unless the parent has the training and education to do it themselves. In that situation, it’s pretty foolish to go, “hey, pediatrician, I know you have like ten years of formal education and training and can actually review the literature, but I have my parental intuition…”

Just, everyone, vaccinate your kids unless an actual MD tells you not to. Rely on actual medical professionals, not conspiracy theories from the internet.

end of PSA.
 
Or dont. Whatever you think is best. We vaccinate but I dont mind others who because of thought out convictions dont. Again, I trust they make the best decisions they can. We have to stop making everyone make the same decisions we do. It’s so odd with these things. Vaccinations are your trigger. But why have one at all?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top