Friday, February 27, 2009

Good Advice? Not so much...

I am a devoted information-a-holic. When something is going on in my life, I read up on all the info I can get and find out what all the doctors have to say about it. I like to follow their advice to the letter in order to assure an sound outcome (yeah right!). For example:

--The AAP says that 2-year-olds shouldn't watch more than 2 hours of TV a day. I literally agonize over every extra minute Finn gets on the days he exceeds that.

--Long ago, when I first read that humans need 8 hours of sleep a night, I decided to hold myself to that. For years, I basically planned my sleep schedule to the minute to get 8 hours (I am SO not over-exaggerating that!). Lately, I've relaxed my 8-hour rule and I've been so much happier.



What's the point of telling you this? I've decided that as my End-of-February-Resolution, I am going to try to stop listening to all this "advice" and see if it makes me any less stressed. Tonight, we had such a lovely evening doing things that you aren't supposed to do (watching a movie during dinner, pushing back bedtime, etc.). Why can't I make every night this great? It's not like I have a full-time job that I have to schedule around! We can be relaxed right? (Actually I should ask, I can be relaxed, right?). I am blogging this so that I have to be held accountable for it. My plan of action is:

1. Throw out all my many parenting magazines (or give them away)

2. Hit "Delete" when I get all those "About Your Child This Week" e-mails.

3. Tell myself to shut-up when that little voice says "But they say to do it this way..." (I'm not really schizophrenic, at least, the voices in my head say I'm not).

So please, don't be afraid to ask me if I'm doing these things. Also, I would love it if you told me about a time that you did something "wrong" and it turned into great fun! I'll keep you updated on how it is going!

4 comments:

  1. Way to go! Good luck on your new adventure, I'm sure it will prove to be lots of fun! :)

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  2. I used to stress about a lot of that too. Anthony has told me to relax and I finally started to. Now we don't stick to a strict night time and nap time schedule and I am a much happier mom. I try and go with the flow. I used to be really strict with how many books I would read to them (no more no less), I've changed that too. Good luck with the changes and I can't wait to see the new house. Also I want to go to the omniplex soon. Maybe monday. I'll call you.

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  3. liz....how exciting!! i'm so proud of you for trying something so counterintuitive for you and sharing it with the world! i will definitely ask you how it's going and hope we can all be of encouragement to you.

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