Okay I seriously have a problem. As a parent, there is always a next step, a new milestone, or a new THING to conquer. My phobia is the fear of the next parental obstacle or milestone I must conquer. Not following? Here's some examples:
- As newborns, you hope and pray that they are good breastfeeders (sorry for TMI). You hope they latch on, that you produce enough milk, that they are "nice" to you, etc.
- But then, you have to introduce the bottle to them. You have to hope they won't freak out when you throw a wrench in their perfect boob world.
- I swaddled both boys, which helped them sleep longer, and not wake themselves up as much. It soothed them and made them happy to go to sleep. But then you have to worry about when they start breaking out of the swaddle, and then eventually hope they learn to sleep without their arms swaddled. Not to mention, you stress that they'll be warm enough without the extra blanket.
- So we've already been stressed about transitioning from boob to bottle, then we've gotta take the bottle away and switch from formula to milk!
- Next come binkys, then of course they should be sleeping through the night long before now, and then potty training, then switching to a regular bed, not a cage. I mean, Im just getting started here!
What I would like to focus on is taking away Crew's binky recently. Ive dreaded it for at least a month. Every time I would give it to him to sleep, I would dread the day I would deprive him of it. Every car ride, every time he got cranky, and just those days or nights when you need some quiet and peace...I would dread that day the bink wouldn't save me. But last Sunday night, we just said "IT'S TIME!" And we put him to bed without the bink. 30 minutes later, after having to mute the monitor several times, he fell asleep. The next day for naptime, it was rough. Let me tell you, ROUGH! But he finally fell asleep, and we both survived. He woke up smiling at me after 3 1/2 hours of a great nap. Now here we are, the end of day 4 and he is LOUD but happy. I will take it! Another parentalphobia conquered.
You see, I think everyone has a fear of being a parent. Whether or not we want to admit it, we are the only people in charge of getting our children past these transitions in life. I mean, can you imagine a 4 or 5 year old child needing to be swaddled? Or a 1st grade child still drinking from a bottle? Im sure there are extreme cases where it happens, but in general, we as parents usually get our act together and tough it out. We turn our babies into toddlers, into children, into teens, and then adults. That's all im trying to do, while still making it past my phobia! Prayers are appreciated
