Parenting Advice

I am often overwhelmed by parenting advice. Sometimes I am sensitive to the more and less obvious judgment of others. I know that no matter how hard we try to perfect our parenting, someone will think we:

• put them to bed too early, or too late
  
• spend too little time with our kids, or too much (as in, not enough for ourselves)
  
• keep our kids too busy, or not busy enough
  
• toilet train them too early, or too late
  
• discipline them too harshly, or call us push-overs
  
• read them too few books, or too many (and not enough time vacuuming)
  
• breastfeed until they're too old, or not old enough
  
• teach them new things too soon, or too late
  
• spend too much time caring about our own appearances, or not enough
  

I'm not the first or last parent to recognize and worry about the importance of parenting.  I feel like a terrible mother at least once a day. I also feel quite alone at least once a day. In a desperate potty-training moment, I realized that the challenge at hand was solely mine.  No one was coming to save me. Not at that moment, not later that night, not next week. When the going gets tough, Dr. Sears isn’t going to come calm my temper, or the “wise” neighbor down the street isn’t going to put my children to sleep in the manner she deems appropriate. Then I had this mental conversation with my husband:

Me: I feel so alone! I can’t do this by myself!
Janson: Oh Lynn, you are never alone.
Me: stick my tongue out...

And I did the only thing left to do: got down on my knees and prayed. As parents the only trustworthy advice is that which comes from above. How refreshing it is to throw out the advice of books and others and simply trust the Lord. Now I just need to kick that annoying habit I have of caring what others think. Wish me luck.