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Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

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Original poster

One magic piece of advice...

34 replies

Stilltrue · 08/03/2005 13:32

If you had to choose ONE piece of advice to give to a friend/sister about to have a first child, what would it be ?

I would say: be calm and confident in your parenting choices whatever they are, and however hard your situation is at a particular time.
Long term your child will reap the benefit of having a background of confident parenting.

Any other ideas?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

flamesparrow · 08/03/2005 15:02

Yup - I think most of my cosleeping is purely for me!!!

psychomum5 · 08/03/2005 15:03

Agree with prunegirl.....do make sure that baby's daddy does his fair share.

I did with my DH when we had our first, and good job too, as I had to go into hospital for a minor op when she was 7mths, and the fact that daddy could cope made things much less srtessful all round.

decmum · 08/03/2005 15:18

Try to make your children laugh every day...the power of laughter is incredible for you and your children.

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motherinferior · 08/03/2005 15:20

Don't feel guilty when you're not enjoying it. Everyone has bad patches. And if you really are very unhappy, go and get help - there IS help out there.

mckenzie · 08/03/2005 15:29

remember that if you didn't have a occasional 'bad' day, how would you recognise a 'good' one?

lunarx · 08/03/2005 15:42

decmum> agree %110!! (this said after ds and i had a good laugh this afternoon over me quacking!!)

advice i've given my best friend in the US who is expecting her first in 2 weeks:

smile and nod at advice you do not agree with. you will probably get plenty of it from well meaning friends/family (me included!!) but do not write everything off..
hold your newborn as much as you can. they are only that small once you will not spoil them nor create a 'bratty' 'needy' baby. cuddle cuddle cuddle...
"me" time is essential. even if it is just 10 or 15 minutes alone before bed. to read, take a bath. to relax.
to not take crap (oops, can i say that here?) from anyone about how you choose to feed your baby. if you are not happy with your choosen feeding method, it will affect your relationship with baby.

(ok, enough from me!!)

jackeroo · 09/03/2005 09:01

agree re laughter too - a baby in fits of giggles means happy baby and happy mum... find out what tickles your baby and enjoy! (and don't worry too much about percentile charts...)

dot1 · 09/03/2005 09:34

get someone to take them out for even just 30 - 60 minutes as often as possible! The break will do you the world of good..!

triceratops · 09/03/2005 09:59

Go out alone with your partner at least once a month even if it is only for one hour. Baby really will survive for that long without you.

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