To think some people choose parenting as a hobby?

[MumblingRagDoll]

What I mean is those people who seem to make a "thing" about it all....talking about their parenting choices as though they're inventing a new philosophy....such "Baby Wearing" and "Unonditional Parenting" and so on....I mean ifyou wat to use a sling do it...I did...but it''s not a special way of parenting ffs....they seems to grab onto fads and fashions regarding DC and then live it as a religion.

These people will blog about their lives in minute detail...and just....I don't know... really LIVE the choices. I don't know why it irritates me it just does. I have friends who have DC the same age as my elder child (7) and they're still talking about the birth as if it was yesterday and still living their lives totally through their kids...no hobbies or interests apart from the kids...so taking little Sophie to ballet, ridng, drama. playdates is the be al and end all of their life.

There's nothing wrong of course with being interested in your DC....of course not....I am consumed by my DC in a normal way....but the way some people "get into it" as if they were a teenager obsessed with a rockstar or something.... I find it odd and detrimental to other relationships...my sister and one of my friends is like this....I wonder wht will happen to them when the children get older and begin to lve their own lives.

baby led weaning. The parent decides when they will first try and the parent decides what they will eat but the baby feeds themselves-which means starting at 6 months.

Not exactly, though. The parent decides not to interfere when the baby starts grabbing food, which obviously does mean that the parent has the baby within reach of food, but they don't decide when they will "try" because there isn't really a "try". DD2 is five months and within the last 10 days has started grabbing food off my plate. At the moment she waves it around and then drops it (oddly, food appears to be the one thing she doesn't shove in her mouth). At some point I expect she'll start sticking the food she grabs in her mouth and gumming it, and at some point after that she'll probably start swallowing some of it. I'll be very surprised if that happens before 6 months (she's less interested than DD1 was at this age, and DD1 ate her first solids at 25 weeks). I think this can only be described as my deciding when she will first try by a very loose definition of those terms.

And DD1's first solid food was definitely not something we decided she would eat -- DH was holding DD1 in one arm and an ice cream in his other hand and she did a sort of open-mouthed full-body lunge at it. Probably not an ideal first weaning food, but after that she took a liking to broccoli so no harm done.

Thanks, exotic. Man, child rearing is serioussssss business.

So wait, the baby feeds itself at 6 months? that is crazy...they can just about lift their heads. Anyway I'm out of the loop. My one and only DC is over 10 yrs old.

child rearing is serioussssss business.

As it ever was

I remember daggers drawn over the high chair with MIL banging on about "oh how you young ones make such a FUSS about weaning, The Miracle Child was weaned at about three hours old on ditch water stew made with old sock and THRIVED on it", while I bristled and carried on acting like the proffered strawberry in her hand was the equivalent of trying to feed my baby radioactive waste.

AND I was getting in the neck from the English rellies back home. Who didn't think Italians knew how to "do" weaning right based on my "weird" methods which all contained "too much SUGAR !!!" and kept telling me DS would probably implode if I didn't ditch my ped's plan and just listen to them.

But if I incorporated any of the Brit mobs suggestions the Italian bunch would fly off the handle and start muttering about any country that produces the cuisine that England does really ought to remember that Italian cuisine is famed world over and Italians all live to be 305 thanks to their lifelong diet so their most modern weaning methods are the gold standard and..blah blah blah

A lot of the babyhood had disappeared into the mists of time, but my memories of weaning sure stands out as one of the more angst filled bits.

I think that I preferred my way-I don't think that I could stand them just grabbing the food they fancied!
I expect that is baby led if they go for icecream. I still think that most BLWs are more controlling, judging by the horror on MN if MIL should let them decide on chocolate cake!