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.

Go out every day and you don’t need to punish your dc.

Trust your instincts. You know your child best.

I used to remind myself that they did this ( child rearing) in caves. We are so lucky to live in the times we do. Don't overthink too much .. Warmth, love and food in spades .. anything else a bonus .. try to enjoy this special time 🥰🥰

Listen to everyone’s advice, smile, and ignore what doesn’t work for you.

Fed is best.

Pick your battles.

Taking time out for yourself isn’t selfish.

Put a hot water bottle in your baby’s cot/Moses basket when you’re feeding them at night, and then TAKE IT OUT and put them back in, less likely to wake up fully as it’s nice and warm. (Obviously usual caveats about making sure it’s not hot and you don’t leave the hot water bottle in)

One for parents of teenagers, tell them that you will never be angry if they’re honest and open with you, lying will get them in a lot more trouble.

@minmooch

Trust your instincts. You know your child best.

100% @minmooch

the last time I did that (2.5 weeks ago) I suspected DS4 had broken a finger. took him to A&E. he'd actually broken 3! 😱
I did give myself an award🤣

Smile and nod - can't remember who told me this but I repeat it to any new parents.

Another vote for trust your instincts, don't let anyone fob you off as a 'worry mummy'. You are your child's voice until they get their own. A mother's instinct is a powerful force, don't try and ignore it.

@giantwaterbottle

Snap *@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland* I was just about to write, I do get the idea behind it but I also feel that people who give that advice maybe just haven't had a bad sleeper.

My first was SO bad at sleeping that the rare occasion he did sleep i wa so desperate that I was silent.

I think that goes with lots of things, you have a child that won't eat and there is always someone to tell you they just wouldn't accept that and no child will stave themselves. Yes some will.

A clingy child, well you should have made them more independent, left them with childminder/granny/auntie or whoever and they'd be fine. Well no some insecure kids need lots of love and closeness and cuddles or they get worse.

Sucking their thumb was a favourite, I should have stopped it. How? Short of cutting them off it was impossible. I tried everything but of course the people with kids who didn't suck their thumb/gave up easily were just super parents and I was a failure.

It is so easy to fall into that trap, something is easy for us we just assume anyone can do it and if they can't they are either doing it wrong or not trying.

it's ok to admit you don't know

it's ok to say "I don't know how to answer that, let me think"

it's ok to cry

It's a marathon, not a race.

To add, in less than a year or two, no one but no one will give a monkey

• if you had a vaginal birth or a C-section

-if you BF or bottle fed -if you pureed or BLW -if little Timmywalked at 8 months or 18 months ,

Loving these!
Totally agree with ‘pick your battles’, DH and I often call over ‘PYB!’ to each other when things start to escalate unnecessarily.
Also couldn’t agree more with ‘always follow through’. I always, always follow through with a threat if I have said it out loud and the DC test me on it. From what I’ve seen of other parents with badly behaved kids this is absolutely key - I constantly hear them threaten things that I, they and the child know they have absolutely no intention of seeing through. It very much results in overconfident children with no respect.
Also, ‘babies do cry’ helped me in the early stages.
And, ‘don’t let your kids do anything that makes you not like them’ is a very simple but useful thing that people should bear in mind!

My GP told me (when I was tearing my hair out with my toddler) “Don’t worry, he’s just at that difficult age between 0 and 26”.

When going for ice cream for two, get a 99 and an extra cone. Divide the ice cream between the 2 cones. Saves money, saves time (still just as messy sadly!)

A friend once pointed out that the people who tell you to 'cherish every minute' and make you feel horribly guilty that you're not are always saying it with hindsight - they didn't actually manage it when theirs were little, either. That made me feel a lot better.

Don't take a baby/toddler/child on your adult holiday.

Planning the holiday realistically around your child will ensure you have the best time and make the most of it.
Saves you from the very disappointed and depressing "same shit different place" which it doesn't need to be.

@ancientgran I very much agree. My second was much, much easier than my first. Just a much more relaxed character and a better sleeper. If I had had him first I dread to think how i would have thought I was such a good parent.
Now I have two very different kids I believe it is luck of the draw. The boastful ones just had their "easy" child first.

@WhyMeLord - genuinely genius! Nail clippers in the car. Can’t believe i never thought of that.

I often think of Julian of Norwhich when things are at their worst: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” Good advice over 650 years distance.

Sorry, haven’t RTFT and perhaps it’s already been said: pick your battles.

They don't need a bath everyday!

You are enough.

Go to any baby classes/groups/outings for your own sake if you wish.

Your baby/toddler does not need music/language/dance/play groups and classes! They REALLY don't.

Oh yes - a holiday is NOT a holiday but a change of scenery.

Also praise their good behaviour it works miracles!

@Nonmaquillee

Oh yes - a holiday is NOT a holiday but a change of scenery.

depends...

when it's 2 adults instead of 1
when there's no pressure to entertain baby/child because everything is new and interesting
when you are more relaxed, and more likely to eat out and enjoy yourself

it absolutely IS a holiday. But unless you have a full time nanny with you, pretending to have the same holidays you used to have is not gonna happen!

Leave the baby with his/her father asap. He needs to learn to cope from the start.

Someone told me to 'sleep when they sleep' and I thought, no, that'll be when I catch up on housework, do my hobbies etc. Nope. I quickly learned this may be the only 2 hours I get in the next 24. I would literally sprint home with the buggy if out and ds1 fell asleep. I'd stop doing whatever I was doing, even eating mid lunch, and race to bed and sleep. When I had my 2nd it was a real shock as I couldn't do that anymore and I realised I'd depended on those couple of hours twice a day. By the 3rd the whole concept of sleep was some kind of absurd play.

One tip of mine I give people is if you have more than one dress them in the same bright colours, that way you can see them in the soft play frames and play grounds and, if you have a bolter or a Houdini dress them all the same, because when you are franticly screaming their name and searching for them (on a cross channel ferry for instance ) and people say 'what is he wearing?' you can point to your other child and say 'THAT!'