Best child rearing advice ever offered to you... (parent, safety, husband)

[crazyma]

Originally Posted by mm_mary73

Love your spouse and put your marriage first.

Oh my...yes...THAT is certainly a best ..thanks for mentioning that. For if you do that , all else will more easily fall in place

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by mrstewart

I am going to my umpteenth baby shower this weekend and I always look forward to hearing the discussions about child rearing coming from mothers with older children.

What is the best child rearing advice anyone ever gave and who gave it?

My best advice was from my father!! He said " No need to try and be your child's friend....he will have plenty of those, but he will only have one mother".

When my wife and I were dealing with our first, a cholicky, difficult baby, we were getting stressed and really trying way too hard to have a perfect baby. My father-in-law stopped by one afternoon when I was alone with my son, I was unshaven, hadn't showered, hadn't slept, etc. I opened the door, he took the baby and handed me a six pack of stella artois. He said three were for me and three were for my wife and I should have the first one now. Basically, his advice was to calm down and relax. People are better parents when they don't let their brains get in the way of what comes naturally.

[SuSuSushi]

Originally Posted by mrstewart

What is the best child rearing advice anyone ever gave and who gave it?

"They aren't as fragile as they look."

[NicoleJ]

The best advice came from my son's pediatric nurse when we were in Germany:

Pick your battles when he's older.

Don't get upset when they don't eat and don't do something stupid like cater to their wishes. They won't starve themselves.

[austinnetx]

Originally Posted by akck

This is not necessarily good advice, but an old logger told me the last time you wrestle with your teenage boys, you should hurt them really good. They then wouldn't challenge you when they are old enough to beat you. I sometimes wonder if I should have followed his advice.

My dad took all five of us on once. It was not pretty. He did not play fair and we all ended up on our backs.

Taught two lessons - don't mess with dad and its ok to fight dirty.

[maestramommy]

From two different sources:

1) You can't spoil a baby (as in infant 1 and under)

2) No baby ever died from crying a little.

Kind of balance each other out in my mind

[BagongBuhay]

From my grandmother to my mother, from my mother to me, from me to my daughter:

"A little dirt does not hurt!"

I am not the freaky squeaky antiseptic kind of mom. I really think that it builds immunity to all kinds of germs and diseases and prevent some allergies from forming.

[akck]

Originally Posted by austinnetx

My dad took all five of us on once. It was not pretty. He did not play fair and we all ended up on our backs.

Taught two lessons - don't mess with dad and its ok to fight dirty.

Exactly his point and he did say that if you think your son can beat you, fight dirty to make sure it's the last wrestling match.

[TouchOfWhimsy]

"This too shall pass."

So far, it's been true with every problem that's come up!

[max's mama]

"Fruit spoils, not babies".