Sanity or Patience: choose one.

Do you ever have one of those moments where you think, "HA! I am sane!" Then you step in dog poo with your bare feet and remember it was your idea to get the puppy...?

Friday, May 29

FF: Handbook Junkie: Tell Me What To Do!!!

Something about me you ought to know: I am a parenting book junkie. It's sad, I know, but it stems from spending two of the four years it took me to earn my associates degree (in early childhood ed) being pregnant and a new mother with a never ending supply of educational and child development material.

When I finally graduated, I started having attacks, like I needed a handbook right away: "What do I do with all this poop? Oh, isn't there a book about making him eat? Can I get a pamphlet on biting? Where is that article about the kid who picked her nose until it bled and what her mother did to make her stop it?"

All this dependence on reading for answers seems to have stripped me of some natural maternal instinct to figure out (on my own) what the heck to do with my son. It can only be compared to the way Spell-check has enabled my once word-savvy brain to disengage when I am handed a pen and paper. Why do I let this happen?

Sooo... I bring all this up because I bought another book yesterday. I was doing pretty good, it had been over a year since my last relapse. Unless you count the one I bought for my sister... Anyway, I'm going to read it, decide whether or not I agree with any of it, and discuss what I think about "ScreamFree Parenting" by Hal Edward Runkel, LMFT. (I have no idea what that stands for).

By the way, I do not - as my mother accused me of doing - take in everything I read as 'truth' and/or 'rule.' I am an intelligent person (sometimes) and I CAN think for myself, mother! And if one more person tells me I don't need to learn anything or read more books because, "Hey, this is how my parents did it and I turned out just fine," I might scream.

And for the record, no, you most often did not. But that's a topic for another post.


This post is part of Flashback Fridays, hosted by Scary Mommy. If you have an old post you'd like to share (or even an old photo or memory) head over to Scary Mommy on this lovely Friday.
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**Originally posted on January 5, 2009**

For the record, I did finish it, but it took forever and I never posted anything else about it. It was helpful and had very interesting points, but most of the chapters were kind of boring to read.

15 comments:

Stephanie said...

I'm still laughing....too funny. My Dad tells me that all the time..."This is how my parents did it. I turned our just fine!"....Oh, really?! Thank God we were given brains so we can think for ourselves! ;)

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Lesha said...

Oh geez. My husband says the same thing about me. Except it's not just books, it's books and magazines, and blogs, and web boards, and and and...

And I'm a little curious about the LMFT too...Laughing My something something?

wendy said...

So very funny (and sadly, so close to home)! It is amazing how much of the brain atrophies during pregnancy, never to return to its full glory! Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I'll be back for sure.

Queenie Jeannie said...

LOL! I love to read, so books are NEVER a waste to me, regardless of the kind.

As for parenting, any parent who gives a darn stresses and worries about the job they are doing. It's universal. The ones that don't care, well don't care. Make sense?

Love fixes just about everything so (try) not to stress!!!!

Now, come on over and check out my new bloggy makeover! :-)

BonBon Rose Girls Kristin said...

My Mom is forever saying....Well, it worked for me and look how you turned out. Ahhhhhhhhh.

Scary Mommy said...

I will admit to never having read a single parenting book. They would have come in quite handy though, because I was clueless! I just figured I'd learn as I went. And I did, pretty much. But it would have been nice to have a heads up!

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Anonymous said...

Among your parenting-book readings you should totally read the book "I Hate Other People's Children"....it's a good one! :)
I'm being serious.

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, and check out wrybaby.com books for parenting techniques...hahahahaha! Love them!

Xazmin said...

I read sooo many parenting books when I was pregnant the first time. It bugs the heck out of my parents, but it bugs me more when they give me crap about it. I'm so on your side!

I'm very interested in the Scream Free Parenting...that concept is so elusive to me!

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