Best parenting tip you ever got?

[giantwaterbottle]

Obviously I'm not being unreasonable to ask 🤷‍♀️

Mine was from some friends who had older kids.
Always double the sheets/plastic sheet in baby/toddler bed.

It's saved us in the middle of the night on countless occasions.

🙄

For small children-don't get into fights about food, have a spare of any special comforters
For teenagers-hang on, they turn back into humans eventually

I know this isn’t quite following the thread but last weekend I was in a garden centre a mother with a daughter aged about 5, kept running about. Every few minutes mother shouted ‘if you don’t stop running around after I count to three we’re going back to the car. Mother would them shout 1,2, 3 child stopped then few minutes after child would run about again. Mother then starts the 1,2,3 it was very annoying for everyone around who kept staring as mother was making more of a drama of situ finally an older lady, brave, I though said to mother why don’t you engage her in what you’re looking for then she’ll be less bored. Mother initially dumbstruck to be given advise but then to her credit she did start engaging with daughter and got her to pick a plant. All was peaceful!

Hmmm....when DS was going through a particularly tricky passage of his adolescence, and I basically was still treating him like a young child to be managed into good behaviour, his headmaster pointed out to me that he (DS) was perfectly entitled by law to leave school and home, and there would be nothing I could do about it, if that is what he chose. So - basically - accept that you don't own your child, and work with this annoying, free person as an equal.

@PieceOfString

You can't lose your temper when you're singing. So one frazzled sleep deprived mummy managed to love and sooth a reflux baby mostly by singing shift lullaby's through it. Externally I probably looked like a devoted calm mum, internally I was keeping murderous thoughts at bay. We both got through it with a great bond.

As soon as mine could talk they would fix me with a sad look and say “no mamma” if I started to sing. They’d obviously had enough of my warbling by then 😂

I still find myself humming a particular tune when they fall or hurt themselves.

Whatever teddy, muslin, comforter becomes their favourite, buy at least 1 more as a spare. Rotate them round equally so they get worn at the same rate, and it then makes it easier for washing if they ever get dirty, and ensures you always have a backup if one gets lost.
We have 3 of the same comforter and they all look the same (instead of 1 worn and 2 pristine).

Watch them sleep for a few minutes at the end of the day. Doesn't matter how difficult the day has been it all melts away ready for a new day tomorrow.

Praise effort, not attainment

One bad day does not a disaster make. If I remember that pretty much anything is bearable.

Trust your instincts if you feel something isn’t right.

Don’t excessively entertain them! They will grow up unable to entertain themselves. Dc1 is a nightmare for this having constantly attended baby groups, parks, zoos etc and now cannot self entertain at all. Learned my lesson with dc2 and 3 tho

Keep nail clippers in the car so you can trim their finger and toe nails when they fall asleep in the car seat

Teenagers need you more not less

Oh and drs/ health care practitioners etc aren’t always right- we had a very near miss with dc1 who would have died if I didn’t trust my instincts

Everything now is better than it will be later. Their 20s are the worst.

If you think you might give in eventually, say yes straight away.

20 "No"s then a yes becomes 21 "No"s next time etc.

When they’re grumpy, take them outside or stick them in water (a bath). It’s worked through baby/toddlerhood, but I think I’ll need updated advice for the teen years 😂

From a brilliant Dr who treated my 6 day old DS:
Always keep hands a feet warm when a young one has a fever. If the extremities are cold the fever can rise.
Ive heeded this and dodged calpol many a time my letting them body do it’s own thing.

I was about to share the sticker one! Best tip ever.

Treat your first baby like you might treat your third.

Helped me be more laidback!

On first baby parenting books 'Baby hasn't read the books'.
Also for potty training, bribe each pooh with a chocolate button. Worked a treat!

@UKhun

If you bottle feed get them used to drinking room temperature or cold milk from a young age so you aren't reliant on bottle warmers all the time.

This one

Also, they will remember very little of life before age 3 so don't oversweat the "experiences" though as now adult DS2 tells me, "I'm sure we enjoyed it at the time but I don't remember any of it, we would have also enjoyed the local park and a balloon and you could have saved a fortune on holidays and days out and activities..."

Don’t let them get used to warm puréed food when you’re weaning them. If they’ll eat it cold you can feed them anytime anywhere.

@CurryLover55

Absolutely another vote for sleeping through noise. It’s amazing the number of people that creep around hushing everyone cos the baby’s just gone down! Walk away a lot sooner! I’m still not brilliant at this & tend to engage way too much with DD12. Because she has no siblings, she tends to try & pick fights with me & DH. My DSIL always tried to explain why something was wrong rather than just tell my nephews & niece off.

So agree about the noise and the level of noise isn't always important. We used to walk across an active airport runway, a barrier came down when a plane was coming in. My sleeping month old never twitched as this screeching jet landed less than 100 yards away but as the bell rang to say the barrier was ging up she woke up howling!