Here's my rant

Well, I am sure many of you have heard of or seen the times cover from last month all over the news or tv. and if not, well good for you; you are probably doing more productive things with your time than me!haha

Anyways, it was a picture of a mom breastfeeding her three year old son. Let me just say this..that poor boy when he is thirteen:)

So here is my rant. I am not going to judge and say when someone should breastfeed till or not. But what this whole thing has stirred up in me is a sickness for the bombarding of parenting information, tips, trends, what you should do or not, ect ect, You should breastfeed, you shouldn't breastfeed, crying it out vs attachment parenting, co sleeping vs no bumper pads in the crib, it never ends! and I am so tired of it.

Sometimes I think I would be such a better parent if I was just able to tune out everything around me and go with my gut. Because i trust my gut. I don't like the 5 extra pounds hanging on it right now, but overall I trust it. Why? because I have been raised by loving christian parents who have instilled in me a deep relationship with christ, and God the father the ultimate parent, and he is guiding me. So why shouldn't I trust that over some book, or google article or what someone is telling me on facebook. When did we become parenting experts? Aren't we all just trying to figure this out together??

To me, enough is enough. Its got to be about doing whats right for your family.

There are times when I am all about attachment parenting, and then there are times when if I don't walk away for five minutes and let the baby cry I will scream..so whats better?

I live with the constant guilt that I have to go back to work in the new year, and am I going to be damaging my kids by putting them in the care of others. And this isn't so that we can have the extras in life, this is so we can pay our basic bills and buy groceries. But what if it wasn't, what if i was going back to work to get some me time to make me a better mom?? Who's to say??

I think us as parents have it so tough now a days. And i think we make it even harder on each other. Personally i think a lot of it stems from insecurity, so if I can secretly judge you for the fact that your child is 4 and not potty trained, or still has a soother well than that makes me a better parent than you because i was able to pull my kids soother away a long time ago..fyi, Addy still has hers at night time and i don't care:) I will take it away when we are both ready;)

So I can spend my days worrying about what I am doing wrong, which sometimes I feel like I do, or I can focus on the fact that God blessed me and entrusted me with these beautiful children who so far seem very well adjusted, are polite, loving, beautiful, and kind. I must be doing ok, right?:)

So, here i am preaching to the choir, by saying this..just do what you know how to do best! tune out the world, everyone has their opinions and its exhausting. If you want advice well than ask, but be prepared if you do so on facebook you are opening up a huge can of worms! ask someone who's been doing this more than five minutes as well:) 

As moms we need to be encouraged, uplifted and affirmed because we spend enough time beating ourselves up. So I encourage you to encourage someone around you! Make it genuine but do it! We all need some affirmation to fill up our mom tank to keep us going, because lets face it, its hard out there.

And when all else fails, go the ultimate father, who wrote the book on parenting, and let him guide your way. And even if you fail, there is a bountiful of grace coming your way, so don't forget to extend it to your babies next time they dump something all over your house:)