What will your parenting rules/style be?

[moomin35]

After an exhausting day around family members children over xmas(!!) it got me thinking that, as a first time Mum, what my parenting rules and style may/will be. What do you all plan to do with yours? For instance, I find that children take centre stage too much and arent disciplined enough but at the same time I dont think I want to smack mine so how do you enforce good behaviour?

None of the silly little rules I set pre-pregnancy have stuck.

The main tenet of my "parenting style" certainly with little people (under 4's): Pick your battles.

Go with the flow and wait until your baby arrives. The most important lesson I have learnt is to pick your battles. Especially with a 2 year old. Sometimes it is better to keep quiet and keep the peace although it is important to be consistant. I find that if I shout I feel like I have lost and the best approach is a gentle but firm. I know someone who was pregnant at the same time as me. She was very critical of other's parenting styles and was full of good idea's. . Starting with no dummy. Her DD is 2 and still has one and lots of her ideas were very quickly discarded. I think your parenting ideals are replaced when your baby arrives and develops a personality.

I think you should make a list of what your parenting rules are going to be.

Put it in an envelope. Seal it.

And open it on your PFB 18th birthday.

And see how many you stuck to.

Claudius those sound similar to my golden rules, my eldest is six, so I'm aware I've got battles to come, but those are the rules I I planning.

DH and I have talked about this at great length!. We want to be flexible and laid back but the one thing for us is keeping the bedroom and bed ours. And to have active, outdoor children with potty training starting as soon as possible!

I can't breastfeed and he will have to do night feeds as often as possible so I can rest - and also for the first week after the birth I will be in hospital and the baby taken to sleep under nurse supervision so I think hard as it is that will help set the boundaries.

It's bad enough at the moment having to chase the dog out the bed to get a good night's sleep let alone a child and as for the parenting style I will have to see how it all goes. I don't want to be a tyrant. Not to lose it is my main goal but with toddler tantrums who knows! I can just see myself pretending the child is someone else's when dealing with a supermarket tantrum!

No TV in rooms is still easy, but they're only 7 and 5 so I might crumble when they're teens. and I let them mainline CBBC downstairs anyway.

I was a lentil weaver before I had DC's. Then I turned into an anti-Bac brandishing shouty sargeant major.

As for being consistent, I'm too tired to remember what half my rules are. On the plus side they eat their greens and do well at school so I've not totally screwed up.

Former zen, lentil weaver here too. Kids do annoying things though and you kind of have to shout at them after you've told them approx. a zillion times to do something

Ahh and breathe it's good to have an idea that you and your partner can agree on, but wait till they are here and go with the flow as well