dealing with different parenting styles - Page 2

[Mal85]

I agree with all the previous posters. Eventually, these topics just don't get to you as much. As your child gets older, you find out that maybe your ideals don't live up to your expectations and you have to change your own outlook on some things. I give that same benefit of the doubt for others when it comes to parenting. I don't think most people are trying to harm their kids with their parenting style. I think most parents are trying to do right by them, they just do that differently than I do.

I have a pregnant friend right now and she is still in the mindset that she needs to educate everyone around her about parenting and why she makes the parenting choices she makes. I can see how far I've come from that already and I know she will too once she has the baby and actually begins her parenting journey. It's just not worth the argument most of the time.

[2lilsweetfoxes]

I think when we make these snap judgements we are sometimes basing it on a 5 minute vignette of a stranger's life. The baby in the bucket in the cart? Baby might have just fallen asleep in the car and mama doesn't want to wake her--or like mine: take her out, she wants to walk, but goes her own way and won't stay with me and throws a fit if we carry her or sling her. Junk food in the cart? What is that? I mean, if you saw me shopping for a party, you may draw a different conclusion than a normal trip. And how much? A box of oreos, a couple kid cuisines, and a case of soda could be leave for the sitter meals.

[FarrenSquare]

Originally Posted by Mal85

I have a pregnant friend right now and she is still in the mindset that she needs to educate everyone around her about parenting and why she makes the parenting choices she makes. I can see how far I've come from that already and I know she will too once she has the baby and actually begins her parenting journey. It's just not worth the argument most of the time.

This, exactly. Hahaha, I am that pregnant friend. I think that I'm trying to approach it from the outlook that no one ever has the same experiences as any other person on this world, so our perspective will always be tinted even just *a little* bit differently. For instance, I come from one perspective of raising a child - as a teacher - but the motherhood / parenting perspective is foreign and I've always tried to always be respectful of that gap. For that reason alone, I think that the only time to try to intervene is when it is a safety or health issue.