About the “What Works for Us” Category

I am not an “expert” in any field, but I am an expe­ri­enced par­ent and child­care provider. In these roles I have dis­cov­ered solu­tions that work for me and the kids in my life. Some work so well that I would like to shout them to the world.

However, I HATE being told what to do and a vividly recall the anger ris­ing up from the midst of my post par­tum fog when every­one from the super­mar­ket clerk, to my extended fam­ily, to a stranger at the dog park seemed to have an opin­ion about how I should care for my child. I pla­cated them all with the response that I would con­sider their advice or ask about it at the new moms sup­port group or breast­feed­ing sup­port group at my local hos­pi­tal. In the mean­time I relied on trial and error and trusted my instincts while fill­ing in the gaps using online resources like the Berkeley Parents Network and some­times even embrac­ing the unso­licited advice I had at first resented.

So in these posts I will shout our suc­cesses (and maybe even our fail­ures) to the world, and I hope that let­ting it out in writ­ing will help me to keep my mouth shut when I see the new moms in my life strug­gling and to sup­port them in what­ever way they ask while they find their own way.