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

[codJane]

here

cleanign babies teeth - never really bothered

Giving them biscuits and toast that they have dropped on the floor - mil would have a fit if she saw it!!!!

i AM a good mother i AM a good mother

But please dont leave your little ones int he bath unattended, what if they slip and bash their heads? They wont slip??

josie, i definately hold with the let them eat mud theory, how else are they supposed to develop an immune system - MIL baffled

DD is just 12 months and so far we've avoided owning anything featuring Disney Winnie the Pooh.

Not sure if that's a parenting protocol, but some people seem to think it's compulsory.

Okay
I live in the US and I dont think we do most that any way. I do clean my baby's (18months) teeth but that because I let her sip my pop and eat junk (occasionally). I sterlized but only for the first six months. I have lock on most of my cupboards but I left two open so that she could play with the tupperware and plastic glasses. She loves that. I give her a bath when she needs one, usually at least every other day. I would never leave her alone in the tub... not even for a second.
She drops her food on the ground all the time...I think she is saving it for later (j/k) She has a flexible routine...bedtime is ten but if she goes to bed at ten thirty thats okay.
Honestly, most of it overrated.
Keep dangerous stuff up, keep the bathroom door closed, consider plug protectors, never ever leave your baby in the tub, and keep a good eye on your sweetie

hate the social pressure to constantly wipe noses. The snot blocks the dribble, so we no longer wipe. I am a concientious mother, but not a constant nose wiper.

don't wipe noses snot blocks them

I love this thread it make all my parenting deamons seem normal! In our house we...

Don't bathe every night

Don't have nervous breakdowns if the kids have a sweet or two.

Let them watch Cbeebies

Put a pillow in thier cots before the reccomended time.

Let them run around with grubby faces

Don't strilise after m months

Use the word naughty

Have smacked Ds's bum on the odd ocassion

Fed them jars of food

And apart for 1 illness that can't be hleped my kids are a good size, not to naughty, sociable ect ect....

Oh god the list goes on, its official i am a horrible parent arne't i?

i've been known to wipe other peoples childrens noses - i hate snotty noses, probably because i always had one as a child and the other kids took the piss. Who's to say your childhood doesnt stay with you. Other than that, im a real slovenly mother.

I have never read a parenting 'manual' they're people for christ's sake not dvd players (nearly put video recorders and showed my age!!!). Plus I'm too busy looking after them to read about l;ooking after them. I haven't sterilised for ages since she's been eating food bits she manages to find. DH does when he washes bottles and will not be deterred until her 1st birthday (3 weeks). I call them naughty if they are, its just a case of working out when they're trying to learn something or have a reason and when they are just being plain naughty. They eat a mixture of what we eat except on super hot curry or super crap takeaway nights. Shock horror she has fish fingers (where's the problem if they are good proper actual real fish ones??) with cherry tomatoes hummus to dip in and raw carrots. Stair gates and cupboard locks are a must in our house dd1 is 2 and dd2 almost 1 and both RUN in opposite ends of the house. I keep an eye and am fairly vigilant but i can't be in 2 places at once!!
Don't bath every night. Don't so much clean teeth as give them theit toothbrushes to chew on as it keeps them still while I brush there hair. We don;t use baby toeclippers (how crap are they?) DD2 sometimes has her daytime nap on the bed with me if thats what she feels like but she sleeps perfectly happily in her cot at night.
I have never been to a mother and toddler group and despite numerous attempts to force me to go I never will. We go out shopping or to the park or something else that won't make me miserable. They are both really sociable and happy and healthy etc.

Message withdrawn

lucyellensmum - I'm not downstairs while she's in the bath, I'm literally the other side of the door and I can see her when shes in the bath from my bedroom.
I know she wont slip, 'cause I know what she likes to do in the bath... sit with the toothbrushes and whack them on the side of the tub, and then bash her hands on the water.
Very predictable my dd.

i guess, oops, it depends on your definition of shit. If shit = Mac donalds or bloody haribo sweets, then i agree. If shit = the odd bit of chocolate or an ice cream, i disagree

never heated milk

oh no

It doesn't matter what I call food like that oops. My children still think it's a treat

Message withdrawn

Ooh, no, I have to wipe DD's nose, as otherwise she sticks her tongue out and slurps it off making yummy noises...but I have been known to wipe it on the bottom of her top if I have no tissue!

No bathing every night. Anywhere between 2-5 days between baths depending on dirt levels

Not fussed about a few stains on clothes.

Let ds (2.2) 'brush' his own teeth more often than not.

I am very cavalier about nose-wiping. dh does it compulsively and ds protests.

Do not do 'groups' of any description, although it's more or less seen as an essential round here.

No 'routines' (word sets my teeth on edge). Even now his 'routine' is a fairly loose one. His bedtime routine (there the word is just about justified) starts around 9pm . Rather that than struggle and fight to get him off at 7 then have him up at 5am.

ds had his last bottle at 4 weeks (we did sterilise) and then exclusively bf to 6.5 months - certainly no sterilising (of weaning dishes/cups/cutlery) after that.

Don't go with the bath thing, my kids all have a bath every night.
Def agree with the shoes thing though. Clarks ARE a rip-off.
Never used dummies.
Never restricted TV.
Never worried too much about food.
DH wouldn't have a stairgate nomatter how much I argued, cos he didn't want holes in the walls.

Love this thread - makes me feel mostly normal not completely lax ;)

DD wears same clothes all day & I reuse them if not visibly dirty
I give her back food she drops on the floor
Don't use non-bio or fabric conditioner
Baby bath - still going strong on plain water @ 10 months - hair washed with a miniscule amount of shampoo once a week (but only as she has a lot of hair until it started growing lots I just used water)
Baths 2-3 times a week max
No sterilising (but dd BF so no experience of small baby & bottles)
Sippy cups - what's the point of teaching them to drink twice??
Washing new clothes first
Let her eat grass, paper etc in moderation ;)
Ignore HV & weight charts

I'm quite relaxed and never did many of the things parents are told to, like sterilyze everything and baths everyday but am very that some mums are almost proud to say that they rebelled against hv recommendations and put their dc to sleep on their tummys! Haven't the rates of cot death gone dramatically down because of these guidelines? You'd probably be crucified if you said you smoke in your dcs rooms and yet they appear to have similar impacts!

I'm really glad to see this thread - as an almost Mum (due mid Aug) I was worried that I may have to take up using noxious chemicals in order to be 'hygenic'... I'm sure a bit of dirt is useful to build resistance up.

Re kids not sleeping on their back, my best friend was saying that when her sister had kids (15 yrs ago?) the accepted wisdom was for them to sleep on their sides, so she had to prop them up between pillows to get them to stay that way!

Weight charts!!!

Oh good god I hate those bl**dy things.

With ds 2 I will not take him to be weighed. If he is eating, drinking, weeing, pooing as lots of energy and most of all growing then he will be fine.

HV and I could not pick each other out of an ID Parade.
Doctor said to bathe them every day is not necessary (yippee)
Gave up on that Doidy cup after she ruined her clothes with juice too many times
Bought blue uniform school shoes for DD1 when meant to be black (4 weeks of term left, colour not specified in uniform list) and were in the sale
Did not buy all shoes from proper sensible shops.
Did sterilize as obsessed with not getting stomach upsets

Nightly baths - not if you live in my house. I'd go even more insane than I am now. Bathtime here is complete chaos so it only happens twice a week.
My youngest also has a passion for eating mud and sand. especially keen on lumps of mud that look like biscuits!!
On the bedtime thing though I am a bit of a routine girl. One goes at 7 the other at 7.30 and then it's me time until my husband gets in. The day is just far too long otherwise.