I can not tell you how many times I played the never game. I hate pacifiers, "My child will never have a pacifier", and it's almost two years later and just look,
"I will never let my child sleep in my bed". I thought co-sleeping created terrible habits and we did it for the first few months of her life and I still miss it.
Sweet Pea's new thing that I said I would never let my child do? Sleep with a ton of stuffed animals. It's ridiculous the amount of lovies she currently 'has' to sleep with. Why did it bother me as a nanny? I think the main reason is because his mom and I were expected to keep up with the millions of lovies that got dragged throughout the house. I do let Sweet Pea have all her lovies at night but only one when we go out and about in the world, and only two out of bed period. It gets too chaotic when they are all out. But she is okay with these rules. Sometimes she tries to bring out more and even slips one past me. But I feel like, is the battle really worth it? And no it's not.
I may not have liked this before but sure makes for some cute pics!
The children I was a nanny for listened to me without a doubt. With their mom, it was a different story. And I couldn't figure out why. I thought maybe she somehow spoiled them behind my back or something. And it's not that they didn't listen to her most of the time. It just seemed that they would try to pull one over on her more than they ever did with me. I always said, "My child will always listen to me".
Now to Sweet Pea, that girl is bull headed and rough around the edges. She throws fits and if you tell her to do something, she doesn't want to. But my mom watched her and said she was a delight. My friend, whose little girl I watch - who listens to me By the way, can ask Sweet Pea to do something and she does it. When I ask her, she looks at me defiantly. My question for you, why? Why do they have to push Mommy's buttons more than anyone else's?
This picture probably perfectly describes her attitude towards me when I ask her to do something.
My sister-in-law works at a day care and currently is pregnant with her first biological child. She has started playing the never game. But I just keep my mouth shut. It is easy to play the never game when you have never been in a certain situation. But until you are in it for yourself, you truly have no idea what you are going to do.
My daughter is almost two. That means it has been two years since I was a nanny. I can not believe it has been so long. Time sure does fly when you are having fun.
But my advice? "Live and learn, then get Luvs." ;)
So what are your nevers?
I'm 30 and just had my first child. My friends started having kids in their early 20's. I spent many a girls night or weekend hearing how they missed their baby or babies so much. I didn't understand and said I would never not enjoy myself by missing my child so much. Well....yesterday a friend watched my baby while I took a nap and I missed him so much and I was down the hall. Thinking about leaving him for a weekend seems impossible.
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm a new follower from Sit and Relax Blog Hop! My two kids are the same way. They act so well behaved for others but not for me! My daughter can pitch some really good fits! I was always against co-sleeping until I wanted to sleep again! My son slept with us until he was 4 so I made sure to not start that habit with my daughter! I do miss it sometimes too though! Happy Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteTheresa
Definitely true. I remember I thought my friend was nuts for co-sleeping and we ended up doing it. I wish we would have tried earlier with the crib because right now, she won't fall asleep in there.
ReplyDeleteMy granny always said, "Never say never because that is the one thing you will end up doing." Love you, MOM
ReplyDeleteI have definitely learned what the phrase "Never say never" means. Before kids I was a smart a***s, know-it-all, would-be perfect mom. Well, guess what!?!
ReplyDeleteHaha. I really got a kick out of this post. The photo of Sweet Pea holding onto the little girl really made me laugh. I think we have that same Aristocat stuffed cat too. (One of my faves, since I'm a cat person.) I said I'd never do cloth diapers, but here I am loving them.
ReplyDeleteLove it, Diana. Eating my words has been a common occurrence on my motherhood journey!
ReplyDeleteThanks for participating in the Tuesday Baby Link Up!
Love this post! I think we all have the perfect idea of parenting and a lot of those get tossed as we work our way through life with babies!
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up with The Tuesday Baby Link Up! I hope you'll come back and link up with us again tomorrow!
Christie
http://satisfactionthroughchrist.blogspot.com