which generally " accepted" parenting protocols do you not go along wiht

[codJane]

here

cleanign babies teeth - never really bothered

Never did the whole bath every night routine either.

Not to into routines full stop.

But I don't like leaving them with mucky snotty faces [eww].

No to coating them in sunscreen every time they stick their nose out the front door.

Mud is good for them.

Are insects a useful source of protein?

no nightly/daily baths
no wipeing them the second they get messy or sticky
not changeing their clothes everytime they get a tiny bit mucky
only get him weighed once in a blue moon, think he's been done about 3 times since 8th December and we won't be going again now he's past his 8 month check.

Ok so i dont do:

bath every night (sometimes dd can go nearly 2 weeks without one
Iclean teeth when i remember but routine is pretty lax so not always twice a day
havnt steralised since ds was able to chew on toys etc
dd went into her own room at 8 days (and slept on her tummy)
i allow ds to play in his and dds room unsupervised for up to an hour (hes 8mo)
my dcs sometimes get junk and i dont throw a hissy fit
gave up on m+t groups as people are a bit snotty (and im a young mum who is severly shunned [woe is me face] jk!

oo im sure theres loads more but cant think

oh yeah i call dd naughty when she is
i say no to ds (8mo) (and dd obv.)
i send dd to bed for hurting the cat/her brother
i make her say sorry
if shes ill she sleeps in our bed
i wont get up with her before 7am she has to sit in the front room on her own
tv isn't regulated, but she never sits and watches it anyway shes always running and playing and dancing, if she sat glued to it i'd have to re-think!

Swearing infront of children. I do it rather a lot. Interestingly my 3yr old and 5yr old do not follow suit and seem to understand that it is a weakness of dear old mums and they shouldn't repeat it.

Never had a nursery, nor baby monitors. Plasticy cups with spouts are horrible and put kids off water because it tastes of plastic.
You don't need to have shoes measured by a qualified shoe scientist. You give them a feel yourself.
Sleeping on tummies if they want to.
Get as dirty as they like and dig deep, deep holes in the garden.

Also slip up on handwashing before eating (but am well hot on handwashing after going to the loo, friend mocks me that ds (3) does a full surgical scrub after having a poo)

Cool thread. This is my first time posting here. Been a lurker for a while!

I'm a bit of a mixture.

Sterilised bottles with DD1 and DD2.
Bit of a BF nazi with DD1 but combined feeding at 4 days with DD2.
Baths most nights as DD1 gets dirty plus it helps fill in that time after tea and DH and I do one DD each.
No stairgate - bought one but never put it up.
Hate mother and toddler groups, music groups etc.. - just get together with friends, playdates, go to park instead.
DD1 gets more than the odd sip of Diet coke.
Did the whole weaning thing perfectly with DD1 (now 3yo) and she is such a rubbish eater now! Like, eats no veggie, potatoes, chicken, mince etc..
DD1 still in a cot cause it stops her getting up during the night or early morning.
Use DVDs as a "baby sitter" while make the dinner etc..
Heat bottles in microwave, always
Sadly I enjoy making and pureeing all the veg and fruit
Had DD1 weighed very freqently, had DD2 weighed 4 times.

No catches on doors but do have covers on plugs as friend's DS (who I look after) sticks his fingers in them.
Am a routine person, I like "me time" in the evening. Both asleep by 7 pm or else .

DD1 always has a grubby face, grubby t-shirt but I think she is beautiful!
Am bit hyper with brushing teeth too.
Don't dilute DD1 pure fruit juice, gave up on that when she won't drink enough.
My big embarrassment - DD1 (over 3) is still in pull-ups!! Did try TT and was dry but not clean, then regressed BIG time when DD2 born. So in pull-ups as too lazy to tackle it at the mo

We never had stair gates. Staircase too wide for spring-loaded types and it's Grade I listed so we couldn't drill holes into it either.

DCs all learnt to climb up and down the stairs, safely, at a very young age.

Welcome to MN

Baby & Toddler Groups, I joined the gym instead and DS(s) went to the creche at the gym and got their socialising there.

Thank you Duchess!

2 baths per week
in bed with us for an hour each morning watching tv
no rice cakes wheres the nutritional value?
bed when tired
chewits
2 choc puddings after lunch

Have never sterilised.
dd shares her food with the dogs.
She has eaten sand, grass etc.
Clothes are worn until you can see the dirt.
Sometimes a pj top is worn all day.
She has always eaten whatever we eat.
She watches sport on TV (dh to blame!)
No cupboard locks - so sometimes empties them and helps herself to food.
Plays with a toothbrush rather than brushes teeth (to keep her occupied whilst I do mine).
Will never have 'proper fitted shoes'
Doesn't wear socks or shoes when playing out or going for walks.
Bedtime is fixed unless we have guests or want to go out to the pub etc. She has been known to be bouncing around on the underground at midnight!

However, dd does have a bath most nights, because I love playing in the bath with her.

OOhh Loads..
Baby mozart
Baby Bright vids
Baby massage
Baby signing (wtf!)
Cbeebies (never seen night garden, Lazytown, Ernie or Dora)
"childrens" music ( Wheels, bus, yawn)
character/animal/number bedroom (won't have to redecorate for a 10yrold embarrassed by Thomas)
sticker chart (I hate sticky things, DS not arsed either way)
pasta jar (for boiling or stringing necklaces with, surely?)
Plastic crockery
Children's cutlery
Camoflage clothes
Pocket money
chns "magazines"

DS is a PFB tho, wonder if that has a bearing???

I introduced solids at 16.5 wks rather than 26 weeks
ds was taking gaviscon from spoon from about 12 weeks and was starting grabbing our food at around this time. I decided to do it slowly (essentially blw) but we did have mush. He really enjoyed it all.
best decision i ever made as before this date i was very nervous mum with pfb. After i decided to go against advice and introduce solids i became much more confident and trusted my own judgement

Lots but one I recently noticed was "its always wrong to hit". After ds (4) had been mildly bullied for some time at nursery by 2 boys and no one was able to sort it out, dh and I told him to hit them back. Problem sorted. It surprised me how many people think that this is absolutely wrong.

Socks...life's too short to worry about pairing them, also they last 30 s max

Hats

Funny how ds(10mo)is often the only one without these essential items...he's taken to pulling off other babies' socks too

my ds 8mo only wears socks/shoes when daddy dresses him, i never put a hat on him either! if its cold he has a coat with a hood!

Hello
i am new here.
i love this thread! You all seem so down to earth mums. I ve been working for 17 years as nanny in London, so it is really nice to see that there are 'real' mums out there.
Mistypears i loved yoour posting. It is true if you DO look after your chidren you dont have time to read manuals about how to do so.
I ll just share an experience with youne of my employers used to ask me to work extra days/hours so that she could read books on parenting. She was reading about how to stimulate babies and play with kids but never actually sat on the floor and play. Mum upstairs reading parenting gurus, nanny downstairs looking after the baby. It was so comic and tragic. Still the knowledge was handy when she was with other mums and she was showing off
Welldone to all of you and keep up your brilliand work

Love this - so much of my life in this thread! DD2 knows just about every CBeebies prog backwards - apparently it will stunt her creativity & language - according to her pre-school teacher she is one of the most linguistically advanced and the most creative child in the class (am I smug or what) - she congratulated me & DH on what we were doing (I didn't tell her that she learnt it all from Nina/Shiny Show/Auntie Mabel...)

Baths every night - no way - when DD2 was a baby, sometimes a warm bath helped if she was whingy but if she was content and looking like she'd go to sleep, why the hell would I wake her up with a bath? Now she's 4, only has bath if she needs it ie smothered in paint or hair looks in need of a wash.

Ditto clothes - pants/socks washed after wearing, everything else only if needed - why fill the drains with more chemicals? Same for everyone in the house - if it's clean. don't wash it - just hang it up (OK, the 14 year old has trouble with that last concept, she has yet to learn how a coathanger works!)

Naughty step - really don't get on with this - if your kid is good enough to sit on the step for 1 minute per year of age, they probably know what they've done wrong anyway and won't do it again if you tell them. If they won't sit on the step, it's bloody pointless!

Finishing your plateful - why? As long as I think she's eaten enough, I don't have an issue. And if there's pudding she is still allowed it. Why should I make her stuff herself full so that she can have a yoghurt, if she would have been happy with half a plate and a yoghurt? The rule here is no more food after dinnertime, so if half a plate's all she wants that's fine, she gets nothing else other than a drink of water - and it doesn't bother her. Was at a friend's house the other day - she'd put a huge portion on DD2's plate, one thing I knew DD didn't like (I wasn't asked) and she told her DD and mine that there was no pudding as they hadn't cleared their plates. I was not happy!

Baths - every other night but not worried if we miss one for any reason

NCT group - reluctantly go on a friday morning as dd (19 months) enjoys playing with different toys than what we have at home. Go with 2 friends so don't really bother speaking to anyone else!!

CBeebies - absolutely fine in small doses, gets turned off when I can't bear it anymore (Big Cook, Little Cook; Me Too - enough to make me leave the room and do housework!)

Clarks shoes - I live in the home town of Clarks shoes and we get free wear tests for dd - She gets new shoes to try every month and at the end if they don't have to be taken apart we get to keep them. Saves us a fortune so i'm not complaining!

One thing we have NEVER done (and never will) is use 'bed' as a threat - as in "if you carry on being naughty (is that a bad word? lol) you'll go to bed!" Bed should be somewhere that children enjoy going to rest when they are tired. Say to Dd at 8pm "Time for bed" and she kisses DH, goes to the bottom of the stairs smiling and saying "Night night". And she sleeps 14 hours till 10am!!!

I got tired (very quickly) of making my own baby food. it was jars and packets all the way for my two.

And I will never understand why some parents insist on sitting in the back of the car with their babies, what is that all about?

I always wondered why Mums and babies in the back and Dad's in the front driving. My DH would love that as he could then put anything on the radio he wanted!

Baths everynight otherwise 5pm - 7:30 is just a very long time!

No bath though if DH is late back and i have to put both kids to bed on own. Then both kids in bed by 6:30 and TV on for me

No steralizing except in the dishwasher.

Snot on nose a lot.

Yellow teeth from the play-doh DS1 has eaten.

Ceebies is a free babysitter while i mumsnet and bob the builder is a GOD! Bob is the quickest way to stop any crying, winging, tamtrums...

Also never wake a sleeping baby! Have friends who stick to 1 hour nap at lunchtime not sure why. I love the fact that DS1 sleeps for 2 hours at lunch and sometimes even 3.5 hours - bliss only wish DD" would do the same!