I'm new to posting on this board, but I have been undergoing some major changes in my thinking and parenting styles in this past year. I wasn't raised AP, and I spent a long time going against my natural instincts. It wasn't until I had a miscarriage last fall and got pregnant again over the winter that I started to realize that I don't have to give in to society's norms for parenting and children; in fact, I firmly believe that my children will grow up happier because I refuse to follow society's norms.
How does that fit in to the circumcision board? I had been undergoing these thinking changes about everything AP except for circumcision. My 2 year old is circ'ed, and I had hoped secretly that I was having a girl so I wouldn't have to make the decision again. I knew that if I researched circumcision I would not be happy with what I found, but my husband is circ'ed and (completely honest here) my ex-boyfriend was not. I guess deep in my mind that made non-circumcision "bad", as my ex was a bad person (I know this sounds juvenile. As I said, I wasn't aware of these feelings, only that I was uncomfortable with the idea of not circ'ing.) Of course, in May we found out that we are having a boy in October.
Last night I came to this board and clicked on a link showing pictures of a circumcision. My mouth dropped open. I called dh over to look at the pictures. He loves the AP style, but had always drawn the line at the thought of not circ'ing his boys. He looked at the pictures. He read your replies. He clicked on your links. After months of research on AP style he trusts Dr. Sears, and asked me what Dr. Sears had to say on the subject, which got us digging further for information.
He now believes that it is not our place to perform elective surgery on our son. The pictures completely drained his face of color, and when I mentioned that the baby in the pictures could be our son he had to look away. This is a wonderful, gentle man who is a natural father, and I like to think that I'm a good mother. At any rate, I love my children more than life itself. I want to thank you ladies so much for informing us on this decision. With our son there wasn't a question, it was just something that is done. Thank you so much for educating us against making the same mistake twice.
--Sasha
How does that fit in to the circumcision board? I had been undergoing these thinking changes about everything AP except for circumcision. My 2 year old is circ'ed, and I had hoped secretly that I was having a girl so I wouldn't have to make the decision again. I knew that if I researched circumcision I would not be happy with what I found, but my husband is circ'ed and (completely honest here) my ex-boyfriend was not. I guess deep in my mind that made non-circumcision "bad", as my ex was a bad person (I know this sounds juvenile. As I said, I wasn't aware of these feelings, only that I was uncomfortable with the idea of not circ'ing.) Of course, in May we found out that we are having a boy in October.
Last night I came to this board and clicked on a link showing pictures of a circumcision. My mouth dropped open. I called dh over to look at the pictures. He loves the AP style, but had always drawn the line at the thought of not circ'ing his boys. He looked at the pictures. He read your replies. He clicked on your links. After months of research on AP style he trusts Dr. Sears, and asked me what Dr. Sears had to say on the subject, which got us digging further for information.
He now believes that it is not our place to perform elective surgery on our son. The pictures completely drained his face of color, and when I mentioned that the baby in the pictures could be our son he had to look away. This is a wonderful, gentle man who is a natural father, and I like to think that I'm a good mother. At any rate, I love my children more than life itself. I want to thank you ladies so much for informing us on this decision. With our son there wasn't a question, it was just something that is done. Thank you so much for educating us against making the same mistake twice.
--Sasha
Follow Mothering