Blame it all on your parents

I'm reading "What to Expect; the Toddler Years" and there's a section on how much praise to give a child. It says, "some believe that constantly telling a child they're the best can turn out a paralyzed perfectionist who is so afraid of not being able to live up to overblown parental expectations that they stop trying."

Hmm...I wonder if that's where some of my perfectionism anxiety comes from.

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We Only Watch Kids Movies Now

Seeing BF try so hard to enjoy watching Finding Neverland, a movie you really have to pay attention to, with our wound up toddler running around, making noise and pausing it each time she interrupts us gives me major anxiety. I don't know why he isn't able to accept the fact that we have to sacrifice a lot of things we want to do for the sake of DD. It's been that way for 2 years now. Sure, I get upset about it too, but what else are we going to do?

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Raising So Much More Than a Child

I'm on a trial pass at the fitness center because I've realized that working out really makes me feel good. So as much as I love this Gym, it's giving me anxiety. Not just about my own social status, feeling like I need to dress and look a certain way to belong. But about DDs status because they offer daycare and she's never been in anything like that before. I keep questioning. Is she being judged? Do the other kids think she's weird? Will they pick on her for using her pacifier or sign language? Does she look okay? I intentionally picked out a really cute outfit for her this morning and put a barrette in her hair so she wouldn't look like a ragamuffin. We did a trial run this morning. I went in with her for 10 minutes and then sat outside the door to see how long she'd be ok. About 4 minutes later they waved me back in. One of the advisors was sitting on the ground holding her while she cried her eyes out saying, "Mama! Mama!" with all the other kids standing around her, staring. For the rest of the day all I could think was that it's my fault for being an attachment parent and not socializing her sooner. That I did her a disservice by being with her so much and doing everything I can to make her happy and let her do things at her own speed. That my parenting in these first 2 years will lead her to be the outcast, she'll be made fun of in school, she'll have a hard time making friends, she won't succeed in anything, she won't have a date to the prom... Should I change my parenting style? Should I force her into daycare like everyone else seems to do so easily? Should I accept the cry-it-out method as a tool for preparing your child for the real world? Should I...?

I fear there is SO much more to raising a child than just loving her. You're not caring for a puppy. You're molding a human being.

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Test

Trying out my new iPhone.


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