Infant to adulthood is a crucial time in parenting. There are so many decisions that need to be made that can shape the person that your child becomes. Every decision that you make from the day that they are born effects their life. I feel like every parent now not only wants to discuss but debate and judge every decision that another parent has made. "Oh you chose that for your child? That is so wrong because..(insert random opinion here). I don't get it. Why does how I am raising my child or some random celebrity's opinion matter? What happened to trusting the doctor that went to school for years to become a pediatrician? Oh, so you heard that someone somewhere had XYZ happen so now you definitely won't be following the advice of a licensed professional? That definitely sounds like great parenting. I know that when I was making decisions for my children I did research and talked to my pediatrician about my concerns. Now, it seems like every one with Google is a licensed physician. I am not going to hash out the issues (that's a whole different matter). My point is that it is the beginning of a slippery slope.
People have started to ignore basic parenting skills that have been passed down for generations in order to create the chaos in the world. Baby won't sleep, let it sleep with you. Child throwing tantrum, don't punish them, negotiate with the tiny terrorists. Oh, and GERMS!!! Oh my goodness, the germs. You wonder why your kid is sick all the time? LET THEM PLAY!!!!! It's perfectly fine for little Johnny to eat dirt once in a while. It is okay for Timmy and Jenny to play in the creek. Stop coddling the children and let them be children. If they fall, let them be for a second. You will know instantly if they are not okay. Kids need to learn to handle situations on their own. If they are sick and have a little fever, it's okay not to rush to give them meds right away. They need to build up their immune system. If the fever is insanely high or doesn't break, go for it. If my kids are sick, I snuggle with them, make them soup, give them hot tea and lots of water. I don't understand the coddling. People breed weakness. You wonder why Alice still cries like a 2 year old at 10? It is because she never learned how to be okay without the need for someone stepping in. Bobby acting like a jerk and won't talk to you at 15. Maybe that is because you gave in every single time and created a kid who thinks the whole world owes him something.
The thing that makes me the angriest is the parents who act like they are good parents and yet have no clue what/who their kids actually are. There is so much focus on Bobby wanting to be Brenda or Judy wanting a tattoo and piercings at 12. THEY ARE STILL CHILDREN!!!! It makes me seething mad when I hear the parent say "I didn't know". HOW DID YOU NOT KNOW KAREN?? You didn't know that your kid was so sad that they thought suicide was the only way out? You didn't know that your kid was so angry that they wanted to commit murder? You didn't know that you created a child that thought that rape was okay? I don't understand how a parent can over look all of the warning signs that their kid was giving out. How do you not see that they are in need of help? Stop giving your kid stuff and start giving them attention. Have board game nights with no phone, have limits on social media, have an open door policy with your kids, stop being so close minded and over bearing. You coddled them, you ignored them, and you are responsible for them being who they are. If your kid won't talk to you or come to you with their issues, find someone that they will talk to. There has to be communication and boundaries. I hear people say that you can't be your kid's friend. BULL! You can be their parent and their friend, it just takes work.
Parenting isn't just for 18 years, its for life. Stop making excuses and listen to the people who have been through it. Have restrictions and rules, draw the line, but let them explore and stretch their legs. Why is it okay for little kids to have a sex change but smoking vape or weed is the end of the world? Why is it okay for kids to act like jerks and talk back to you? When did punishing our children become the end of the world? We need to stop acting like the way that we were raised was wrong. We need to take the control back as parents. There is so much wrong with the world today. Stop being mad because you hated spanking and your parents being nosey. If your parents wouldn't have been like that, how much more stuff would you have tried? If you wouldn't have been punished as a child, what kind of things would you have done? What kind of person would you be? Instead of only researching the POSSIBLE outcomes of vaccinations, research the diseases that vaccines protect against. Is a rash the end of the world? Yes, there are circumstances that dictate how kids should be raised. I understand that there are people who honestly believe that they are doing the right thing. The problem is that people have created children that think they run the world. There has to be someone that stand up and says "that's enough". Be that parent. Be the type of parent that builds a better tomorrow.
