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!