I can recall back in my days in child development, that it seemed logical that children do not come with an instruction manual. I remember thinking, 'what kind of idiot needs a manual when it comes to raising children'. Hmmmm, that must explain why there are dozens of child 'manuals' out there from establishing sleeping aids, to breastfeeding through the first 2 years, (eek), and creating the happiest baby on the block. It is easy to lose oneself in these helpful pages of babble as it as just as easy to question one's self worth as a parent. Being new to the game I can say that I have found myself falling prey to these books to help us work out the baby's issues in taking a nap for more than 10 minutes without dozing in our arms. There I was, simultaneously looking up answers on the internet and reading the latest book on babies, ironically while I am holding the baby during his nap. The deeper I delved into these internet threads and pages in the book, the worse I felt about my capability as a parent. I just knew he was doomed to be that nine year old child that could not sleep unless he is being nursed and held all the time, possibly still in diapers and it would ALL be my fault. I was quite down on myself fighting this sleep issue as we spent the majority of nap time picking him up when he cried, putting him down when he stopped, picking him up, putting him down.....and so forth. Not only were we both exhausted and teary from this experience, there was no progress. Then it hit me. I have been around children my whole life, have gotten two degrees based on children, and have yet to harm the one that I gave birth to, so I had to deduce that I was not an idiot and can do this with out the paperback crutches.
As mentioned before, this whole parenting gig is about confidence building and patience. Well on our way...
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