Public Parenting
We've had a parade of friends and grandparents passing through town lately, and it's made me realize that we've moved to a new phase of Dutch's life. She's an unpredictable little person now, and says and does things in public that reflect on our parenting of her. So we're further extended now for criticism (silent or not) of our parenting, and also just plain criticism of HER. (Because, um... she's not perfect.)
Cook's parents, the Big Cooks, are not only lovely people who have been driving us around the state and treating us to meals for several days now, they are also spectacularly generous about allowing us space to parent in whatever fashion we see fit. They never communicate any kind of doubt about our parenting choices, and I really appreciate that. When Dutch was littler, I felt pretty confident about the things we did that probably seemed dubious to them and to others (like toting her around in the marvelous Ergo rather than a stroller). She was just a baby, after all, and if she was a particularly clingy and sleepless baby, that wasn't NECESSARILY my fault. But now... she's a brat. She whines. She clowns around in an embarrassingly blatant bid for attention from her beloved grandparents. She deliberately does things to piss me off. She refuses to let me wipe the crusty goop out of the corners of her eyes. Whether these are due to her flaws or mine is kind of irrelevant - I feel bad either way. I feel self-conscious about it in a way that's new. I second-guess my discipline methods, and I re-examine all my child behavior theories. I'm not coming up with anything new, of course. Just adding this to the list of Things I Feel Bad About.
The Big Cooks are leaving tomorrow, but we've got lots of family adventures coming up during which I can doubt my parenting methods. However, I've decided not to feel bad about allowing Dutch to wear almost anything she likes. If she can act like a decent human being, she's welcome to wear the long-sleeved olive green pajama shirt with the spiders and frogs pattern in combination with the hot pink short shorts. And if she can't act like a decent human being, then it's silly to expect her to dress any other way.
In other news, today Dutch asked Cook to kiss a birthmark on her leg, and then she asked him to tell her what it tasted like. Weird.
Cook's parents, the Big Cooks, are not only lovely people who have been driving us around the state and treating us to meals for several days now, they are also spectacularly generous about allowing us space to parent in whatever fashion we see fit. They never communicate any kind of doubt about our parenting choices, and I really appreciate that. When Dutch was littler, I felt pretty confident about the things we did that probably seemed dubious to them and to others (like toting her around in the marvelous Ergo rather than a stroller). She was just a baby, after all, and if she was a particularly clingy and sleepless baby, that wasn't NECESSARILY my fault. But now... she's a brat. She whines. She clowns around in an embarrassingly blatant bid for attention from her beloved grandparents. She deliberately does things to piss me off. She refuses to let me wipe the crusty goop out of the corners of her eyes. Whether these are due to her flaws or mine is kind of irrelevant - I feel bad either way. I feel self-conscious about it in a way that's new. I second-guess my discipline methods, and I re-examine all my child behavior theories. I'm not coming up with anything new, of course. Just adding this to the list of Things I Feel Bad About.
The Big Cooks are leaving tomorrow, but we've got lots of family adventures coming up during which I can doubt my parenting methods. However, I've decided not to feel bad about allowing Dutch to wear almost anything she likes. If she can act like a decent human being, she's welcome to wear the long-sleeved olive green pajama shirt with the spiders and frogs pattern in combination with the hot pink short shorts. And if she can't act like a decent human being, then it's silly to expect her to dress any other way.
In other news, today Dutch asked Cook to kiss a birthmark on her leg, and then she asked him to tell her what it tasted like. Weird.
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