Do you know anyone who does it like you?

[TheChristmasTreeSurgeonsMate]

Do you know anyone whose parenting matches yours? Or would this be about as likely as meeting someone who was wearing all of the same clothes as you?

yes, my sisters and my cousins and my aunties and my great aunties and my sons friends parents at school

I know a fair few people who share the same parenting ethos, but I don't think anyone would make exactly the same decisions over and over again.

I know a few that are close enough, but I had to go looking for them. I'm happy to be friends with someone who has different parenting techniques to mine but a tiny minority see me as a bonkers lentil weaver extreme.

1st time round with DD I was considered a definite oddball for not having a routine/ not doing controlled crying/ not giving a bottle/ not spoonfeeding jars/ breastfeeding past 6 months/ carrying my baby and it was a source of quite a lot of stress to me and made me really question my instincts.
2nd time round I'm finding life much more enjoyable as my sister has had 2DC in interim and parented quite similarly to me which shuts up family critics and I've gone out of my way to meet more likeminded folk by going to Slingmeet and La Leche League which are a veritable haven of lentil weavery and make me look very mainstream!
I've also found that by the time of 2nd or 3rd baby most people have relaxed very considerably and are seeing the merit in a more laid back approach (or they've just found a 2hr nap in a darkened room less tenable with a toddler in tow!)
I don't think any two parents will ever completely agree but I do think its wise to know your own style and have some likeminded people around so you don't feel isolated. I have a lot of AP tendencies but OTOH I don't co-sleep as I can't get on with it so I don't think anyone should feel they have to sort of buy a whole package.

Not exactly the same in all regards. Some of the closest mummy friends I've made with dd, now 20mnth, bottle feed, strict routine, don't read bedtime stories every night, have no routine at all and late random bedtimes, believe homeopathy works, use slings always, never use slings, none of which apply to us. But I get on with them all anyway

Some very similar, some not. But I've been lucky not to encounter anyone who's been judgey about the way me and DH do our parenting and I hope we are just as tolerant about other people's different styles too. There's no one right way, after all!

You clearly all know where you're at in your family southeastastra! I was thinking about this because DH told me to ask someone about potty training. And I was wondering who I'd ask. It just seems like once you factor in the different babies (some people are busy devising answers to problems you'll never have); your own natural tendencies; some stuff you picked up from books or on here; DH's instincts and imponderables too, you're getting a really mixed picture...

If you're looking for ideas for potty training, why not just ask as many people as you can, then you can get lots of opinions and try the one you like the sound of best

Well, what I did in fact was read the MN guide!