Monday, February 7, 2011

Motherhood: Time is a changin'!

I am a mother and have held that title for 18 years and counting. Somehow though, it seems so much more challenging this time around. I have a 5.5 month old now, and the changes over the years are huge! When did they come up with all of these new catch phrase? Sleep training? Since when do you need to *train* a baby to *SLEEP*?
I didn't breastfeed with my first, so that is a whole new ball game this time around too. It seems that breastfeeding is in season, which was not the case with my first, who we we will call Brooke. Because that is her name. (Should I be changing her name to prevent her from embarrassment? Nah.) With Baby K, it has all been about Attachment Parenting, breastfeeding, and co-sleeping. I don't even recognize myself anymore. Brooke was a "raise yourself" kind of kid, and that worked pretty well for her, but times are changing. Or I am changing.
I once prided myself on being a laid-back mom with Brooke, and because of how well she "turned out" (I didn't burn my first pancake too badly) it is a wonder why I feel the need to re-write the playbook with K. Is it because I am older and wiser? Or is it because society is older and smarter, and things have just changed that much?
When visiting social networking sites for moms today, you are bombarded with opinions on how to raise your baby. If you are not breastfeeding, you are filling your child with poison. If you are co-sleeping, you are raising your child to be insecure. If you are NOT co-sleeping, you are raising them to be untrusting. If you let them "cry it out" you might as well get them a psychologist now. When did it all become such a hot button issue?
I guess we will see how it turns out using 2 completely different parenting models to raise children in 2 different generations. I guess we will also see if I ever get a decent night's sleep. Only time will zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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