Parenting.

Parenting is an interesting thing.  It can be both rewarding, amazing, and the most stressful, hair pulling out experience of your life.  I have discovered something though, I am the parent, not my kids.  Crazy as it may be for some to understand this, I make the rules, not my children.  Allow me to give you a few examples of what I consider "bad parenting".

A three year old in diapers.  Both girls were potty trained before 2.  Both girls fought me tooth and nail at times.  We took breaks, not wanting this to be a stressful thing, but once B and I knew without a doubt that our girls weren't using the potty because they didn't understand, but because they didn't want to take the time out to do it, we cracked down.  No more diapers.  Lady L was a bit more easy than Lady G since she had a big sister to watch, but she did fight me.  I finally had enough and made her sit on her potty seat for 45 minutes until she finally went.  Then I let her get up.  I told her if she didn't want to sit there like that again then she better start using the potty and she did.  She was 22 months.  I am so tired of this crap of "They arent ready".  No you arent ready for the possible fight or even more worse, to lose your "baby".  Now I will cut people a break for are actually trying, who have been battling it out since the second birthday.  I have known women who have fight the good fight and eventually won.  They get a break because they actually TRIED.  Im talking the people who dont and wont try.  You are the parent, start acting like one.  Fun fact, the US is one of the few countries who potty train so late in life....

My over a year old toddler wont give up the bottle.  At four months I gave Lady G and Lady L a sippy cup (Sir E got it at 6 months).  Do you know what happened?  They liked it, they got use to it and when the time came (10 months for Lady G) we threw the bottle away.  Lady L was breastfed, but when she started having formula once a day we did do a bottle until she got use to getting the formula.  She did not have a bottle after 12 months of age though.  Trust me, I know this battle dispite not actually having gone threw it.  I know it because we have gone through the paci battle which I will jump into in my next part.  Heres the thing, do you want your child to have a bottle?  No?  Then take it away and give them a sippy or better yet a cup.  They wont die from dehydration I promise.  Make it a big deal too.  Your a big boy/girl now!  Let them pick it out, try out a few different ones, and if your child happens to like an expensive cup?  You only need two.  Stop putting them to bed with it as well.  That is the worst habit to even start (thats going to be talked about in a few too) but for God's sake take it away!  If not at least put water in a sippy and give them that!

Children with pacis.  Your child is only a toddler for a year to two years (depends on your doctor).  Once your child hits three they are now a child, not a baby, not a toddler, that paci needs to GO.  Ive been there, its rough.  I kept making excuses because Lady L had just been born and I didnt want to keep throwing all these changes at Lady G.  But then before I knew she was turning three.  B finally did it, on the day of her birthday.  It was a rough first day and so were the two days that followed, but guess what?  She got over it.  We threw them all away.  We kept Lady L's out of reach and explained Lady L is a baby, she however is a big girl and big girls dont use pacis.  We made sure not to make that same mistake again with Lady L and took hers away around 18 months before Sir E came along.  It was a three day adjustment (the number 3 seems to be our magic number).  We did it and I am so glad we did.  She wasnt a baby any more and though she is still a "toddler" until Feburary, I dont see her that way.  Once we took it away her speech took off even more than it already had.  She was speaking full sentences, but now we could understand them.

Propping the bottle up/putting the baby to bed with a bottle.  Is it really that damn hard to sit and rock your child for 10 minutes while the take a bottle?  Is it really that horrible to soothe them off to sleep in a rocking chair?  I am so grateful for breastfeeding because it makes me stop and enjoy my child.  I get to hold him, snuggle him, and enjoy him still being a baby.  It wont be long and he wont want to be held.  You will hate that your child no longer wants to be held, so why rush it?  You are their parent and if you are bottle feeding, you arent getting that same bonding time as a lot of breastfeeding moms do.  I understand when you are in the middle of cooking and you do it then.  Im not against the every once in a while thing, I'm against the constant.  Enjoy your baby, bond with your baby.  Be a parent.

I could go on, but I wont.  My point to this is parenting is a simple task.  You want your child to do something, so bare down and get it done.  Children need discipline, they need to know what is expected of them.  Teach your children manners.  Teach them to be polite, to answer when spoken to, and to respect others.  Teach your children about the world and remember, you are the parent, not them.  What you say goes.  Stop making excuses or trying to hold onto your "baby".