Trust yourself

             I just read this wonderful blog from this mother about expectations on motherhood. What an eye opener and relief at the same time. I will post a link at the bottom. But it got me thinking, as they often do, about our expectations of ourselves. We think before we have kids that having them is going to be so easy and that we won't do this or that and we will know exactly what we are doing. That our child isn't " normal" if they don't sleep through the night (and mine still doesn't at 18 mo) or they are below the growth charts... the list could go on and on. We are constantly comparing our children to others, which in turn always makes us feel inadequate and that we aren't doing a good enough job... like we needed help in that department. Then to top it off other moms are always comparing out loud all the things that their kids can do that yours can't, I have been guilty of this as well. I don't think we always know when we are doing this. Anyway... thinking about this really made me reevaluate how I look at things. My Kaleb is his own person, he might not sleep through the night and only weight 19 lbs at 18 mo, and refuse to eat anything healthy but that doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with him or that I am doing anything wrong... it just means that Kaleb is Kaleb.
              We live in this society where we buy all these books that tell us how our child should be and what they should be doing and if you don't match up... dun, dun, dun your DOOMED! Not really, but sometimes it feels like that! God gave us instincts for a reason and in a society where the word "instinct" is looked down upon, it is often hard to rely on it much less trust it. What is your heart telling you? Is it telling you that its time to take the Binky away? To let them cry it out? To not feed them dairy? Who cares what other people think! This is your baby, you do what feels right to you not what is normal, because when it really comes down to it, what is normal anyway? There is no such thing. It is societies perception, often misguided on who they think we should be.
  So with that said... I will leave on this last little note.Trust yourself!
Here's that link! Great article!
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.conscienceparenting.com%2F2011%2F12%2F29%2Fthe-inconvenience-of-having-children%2F&h=gAQHH8V0oAQFPT1kxJoAK7R2bDoHNTEucpCiam8gZwSgQ1w