Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/the-demanding-questioning-over-involved-parent-that-would-be-me/5016576/
It’s been almost ten years, and four children later, since I wrote my first article about child care from the parent’s perspective. Before having my own children, I had many jobs in the early childhood field �" toddler teacher, director, toilet plunger �" and I willingly, often without solicitation, distributed expert advice to parents across the country offering tips about how to put their children to bed, the best way to potty train, and why worksheets are taboo. Currently, I’m on a quest to retrace my early childhood encounters, seeking out every parent I ever gave professional advice to in order to apologize.Why? Hey, some of the advice was pretty good! But what I never delivered with the directions for tantrum prone kids or the ideas for children who wouldn’t stay in bed was empathy, reassurance, or understanding. I stood on my developmentally appropriate soapbox with an indignant attitude of childrearing superiority. I made parents feel like failures with my any-idiot-can-do-this expert attitude and made hard-working moms and dads who were trying to juggle kids and the bills feel guilty. It wasn’t my intention. I just never understood the day-to-day realities of being a parent.
Everyday parenting
Now in the throes of ...