Our Children

Who puts decides the value of our children?


We do.

Believe it or not, as parents, we are the ones who decide the value of our children. We are the ones who get to make the choices from the very beginning on how we will raise them, love them, treat them and maybe more importantly how others will treat them. We are the only ones who have been entrusted with their care and it is up to us to make sure that we always demand the best for them.

Oftentimes other people will try to override that the decisions we make or the care we give, because they think they know better or their way is the "right" way, as parents we have to make sure that we don't allow that to happen. There is no "right" way to raise kids, there are many, there certainly isn't an "only" way.

I can't tell you how many times when someone has heard me say something about what I have done, or plan to do with my son that they come at me with all these reasons why I am wrong. I will hear about how Tom, Dick or Harry does the opposite with their kids, and how those kids are just fine (or perhaps better than mine), or maybe I will hear about how "back when we were kids it was done this way," or "my did that and they're fine." Well, doctors also used to recommend that women smoke cigarettes while pregnant to help them relax and rub whiskey on a child's gums when teething. I think it is safe to say that we have gotten things wrong in the past, or that we have learned that other things work better. We shouldn't settle for less when it comes to our kids just because someone else puts the seed of self doubt into our minds.

We know what is best for our kids. Its like this incredible force that takes over right around the time that we look into those puffy eyes for the first time. Before I had my son I thought that I knew everything about kids, I wasn't at all worried about how I would take care of him when he was born. I had taken care of kids my whole life. I knew it would be hard (I was so scared of how little I'd get to sleep), but I knew that I would know what to do. My husband on the other hand was completely clueless. We took every infant/childbirth class offered on MCAS Yuma and he was still nervous. I don't know if he had ever changed a newborns diaper before. As I'm sure you know from reading previous posts (or if you have ever seen my husband and son together) that my husband is an absolute pro. He is an amazing father, he is so natural with our son, always knows what to do for him without being told or already knowing. My point is that even the people who you think are going to be completely clueless about their kids end up knowing exactly what to do. Parental instinct is an incredible thing, and we owe it to all of the parents around us to not make them doubt theirs.

I have made it my mission in life to raise happy and healthy kids. I decide, along with my husband, what is good for them, what is bad and everything in between. If I am more lenient than Mommy X and more strict than Mommy it is okay. It doesn't mean that I need to be compared to every other mom on the block, you don't need to tell me all about how Mommy X does it this way and how much better her kids are.

Kumbaya and all that good stuff.