Reading

With Tilly sleeping through the night, I'm a little more alert and rested during the day so I've been catching up on some reading. There have been a few interesting books I thought I'd share.

I just finished Didn't I Feed You Yesterday? A Mother's Guide to Sanity in Stillettos. It was hilarious! Not only was it hysterical, it actually had a few good things to say. One day while flying, the author takes a flight attendant's instructions of 'When traveling with children, please secure your own mask before assisting the child' as a metaphor for a solid parenting approach. She realizes:

Provide yourself with oxygen first or you will be of no use to your children. If you run your own life, pursuing your own failures, you won't find yourself dwelling on the missed opportunities or attempting to undo the mistakes on the backs of your kids.

She also observes that:

We have collectively micromanaged our pregnancies and written our superfluouos Birth Plans and succumbed to the pressure of feeding our kids 100 percent organic hand-milled baby food using a reduced carbon footprint. These unrealistic goals have created a population of neurotic mothers whose neurotic kids who inevitably end up at my house on a playdate.

Finally, she sums up her approach with this: Don't get me wrong: I like a healthy, well-adjusted child as much as the next person. But do I really need an owner's manual? Don't you just turn it on and fix it when it's broken?....I will admit my approach is twofold: I always take care of myself and I parent my children my way, not the way others expect me to. I get my oxygen first.

I like it!

I've also reread Children: The Challenge. I read it right after Tigger was born but with him approaching the terrible twos, I thought I needed a refresher. It's a good book, though a bit dated. At one point, it says that everyone in the family has a job - Daddy's is to work, Mommy's is to keep house and the child's is to go to school. Yeah, it was published in 1964. But there are some good thoughts. In one chapter, it discusses not trying to control your child's relationships with others (the example given is one of spoiling grandparents). The book says:

The child does not need to be protected from his environment, nor does he need to have it rearranged for him. What he does need is guidance in his response. The stimulus to which a child is exposed is much less important than his response to it.

All good reading!

I can't finish a post without a picture of our adorable children, so here's one of Tilly, who has learned to suck her thumb:)