Welcome to the June 2013 Carnival of Natural Parenting:
Parenting in Theory vs. in Reality
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants are sharing how their ideas and methods of parenting have changed.
When you are shocked with the news that you are pregnant with twins for no reason, you go through a process. Disbelief, giddiness, panic, buckling down, excitement (so many things to buy!), bewilderment (too many things to buy!). And really, the disbelief never goes away, not even after they are born!
And while there are so many questions that flood your mind, one of the most salient is: can I actually pull this off?
I was consumed with how I was going to do everything and what my days would look like with two babies to care for. And after consulting many twin mamas and forums and books, (maybe too many), there seemed to be two approaches for living with twins: 'One Up, Both Up,' or 'staggered routines.'
Because I was convinced, like most people are before they have kids, that I could plan how everything would turn out, I decided I would operate on the One Up, Both Up plan.
Otherwise, how would I get anything done? How would I get any sleep? And of course, I would be tandem nursing them at every feed, because how else would I have time for anything?(And, as it turned out, I didn't have time for anything anyway.)
I tried to tandem-feed them with the god-awful and misnamed "Brest Friend" pillow, and I was completely uncomfortable.
I tried to keep them awake at the same time, and put them down at the same time. But you know what? Sometimes those babies just don't want to cooperate. They don't just synchronize.
It's like they are two different people or something!
But, when you are pregnant with twins, you tell yourself whatever it takes to make you feel confident enough to do this thing. Motherhood. To two all at once. And I could not fathom the idea of alternating between babies every fifteen minutes--eat and eat and sleep and sleep and diaper and diaper…
Once the babies were a few months old and I was eking my way out of the complete fog that comes with newborn twins, I wised up. I was spending more time than I was saving by trying to get them to bend to each other's schedules. So I tried to pay more attention to each individual. Yes, there was more back and forth. But I ended up fighting with them less because I was more in line with each baby's needs.
I had kind of forgotten about this until my sister brought it up while she was here. She wanted to know why one baby was awake and the other asleep. I told her, they're two different people! Cupcake likes to sleep, Astro doesn't. They each have their own little routine.
She looked at me like I was crazy. She told me I'd completely forgotten what I used to say--that I would make them do everything together.
And I snapped at her, saying that I'd had to believe I had it under control because otherwise I'd be doomed.
She just kind of laughed it off, but It's true. When faced with the completely terrifying unknown, I had to come up with a plan. The reality is that it didn't work out for us, but it also means that we are finding our own way of doing things and that's not something I could have mapped out beforehand.
What about you? Do you have to psyche yourself up for the things you find daunting?
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Visit
Code Name: Mama and
Hobo Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:
- My little gastronomes — "I'll never cook a separate meal for my children," Maud at Awfully Chipper vowed before she had children; but things didn't turn out quite as she'd imagined.
- Know Better, Do Better. Except When I Don't. — Jennifer from True Confessions of a Real Mommy was able to settle in her parenting choices before her children arrived, but that doesn't mean she always lives up to them.
- Judgments Made Before Motherhood — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama looks back on her views of parents she came in contact with before she became a mother and how much her worldview of parenting has changed!
- A Bend in The Road — Lyndsay at ourfeministplayschool writes about how her visions of homeschooling her son during the elementary school years have changed drastically in the last year - because HE wants to go to school.
- I Wish Children Came with Instruction Manuals — While Dionna at Code Name: Mama loves reading about parenting, she's not found any one book that counts as an instruction manual. Every child is different, every family is different, every dynamic is different. No single parenting method or style is the be-all end-all. Still, wouldn't it be nice if parenting were like troubleshooting?
- The Mistakes I've Made — Kate at Here Now Brown Cow laments the choices she made with her first child and explains how ditching her preconceived ideas on parenting is helping her to grow a happy family.
- I Only Expected to Love... — Kellie at Our Mindful Life went into parenting expecting to not have all the answers. It turns out, she was right!
- They See Me Wearin', They Hatin' — Erin Yuki at And Now, for Something Completely Different contemplates putting her babywearing aspirations into practice, and discussed how she deals with "babywearing haters."
- Parenting Human Beings — Erika Gebhardt lists her parenting "mistakes," and the one concept that has revolutionized her parenting.
- Doing it right: what I knew before I had kids... — Lucy at Dreaming Aloud, guest posting at Natural Parents Network realises that the number one game in town, when it comes to parenting, is judgement about doing it right. But "doing it right" looks different to everybody.
- A synopsis of our reality as first time parents — Amanda at My Life in a Nut Shell summarizes the struggles she went through to get pregnant, and how her daughter's high needs paved the way for her and her husband to become natural parents.
- Theory to Reality? — Jorje compares her original pre-kid ideas (some from her own childhood) to her personal parenting realities on MommaJorje.com.
- The Princess Paradigm — Laura at Pug in the Kitchen had planned to raise her daughter in a sparkly, princess-free home, but in turn has found herself embracing the glitz.
- Healthy Eating With Kids: Ideal vs. Real — Christy at Eco Journey In The Burbs had definite ideas about what healthy eating was going to look like in her family before she had kids. Little did she realize that her kids would have something to say about it.
- How to deal with unwanted parenting advice — Tat at Mum in Search thought that dealing with unwanted parenting advice would be a breeze. It turned out to be one of her biggest challenges as a new mum.
- How I trained my 43 month old in 89 days! — Becky at Old New Legacy used to mock sticker charts, until they became her best friend in the process of potty training.
- My Double Life: Scheduling with Twins — Mercedes at Project Procrastinot was banging her head against the wall trying to keep up with the plan she made during pregnancy, until she let her babies lead the way.
- Parenting in the land of compromise — As a holistic health geek trying to take care of her health issues naturally, Jessica at Crunchy-Chewy Mama regrets that her needs sometimes get in the way of her children's needs.
- Practice Makes Good, Not Perfect — Rachael at The Variegated Life comes to see that through practice, she just might already be the parent she wants to be.
- 3 Dangerous Myths about Parenting and Partnering: How to Free Yourself and Your Family — Sheila Pai at A Living Family shares in theory (blog) and reality (video) how she frees herself from 3 Dangerous Myths about Parenting and Partnering that can damage the connection, peace and love she seeks to nurture in her relationships with family and others.
- 5 Things I Thought MY Children Would Never Do — Luschka at Diary of a First Child largely laughs at herself and her previous misconceptions about things her children would or wouldn't do, or be allowed to do.
- Policing politeness — Lauren at Hobo Mama rethinks a conviction she had about modeling vs. teaching her children about courtesy.
- The Before and The After: Learning about Parenting — Amy at Me, Mothering, and Making it All Work reminisces about the perspective she held as a young adult working with children (and parents) . . . before she became a mother.
- Parenting Beliefs: Becoming the Parent You Want to Be — Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children discusses how we can make a mindful decision to become the parent we want to be. Decisions we make affect who we will become.
- The Great Breastfeeding Debacle — In Lisa at The Squishable Baby's mind, breastfeeding would be easy.
- What my daughter taught me about being a parent — Mrs Green asks, "Is it ever ok to lock your child in their bedroom?"
- Sensory Box Fail! — Megan at The Boho Mama discovers that thoughtful sensory activities can sometimes lead to pasta in your bra and beans up your nose.
- Montessori and My Children – Theory vs. Reality — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now shares her experiences with Montessori parenting and describes the results she sees in her now-adult children.
- I Like The Mother I Am Now More Than The Mother I Intended To Be — Darcel at The Mahogany Way thought she would just give her kids the look and they would immediately fall in line.
- How I Ended Up Like My Tiger Mom With Peaceful Parenting — Theek at The Laotian Commotion somehow ended up like her Tiger Mom, even though she purposely tried for the complete opposite as a peaceful parent.
