A Rant

I don't claim to be an expert on life, let alone parenting. I don't give advice unless asked unless your husband or very best friend and then unfortunately, you're subjected to it and for the most part I keep my opinions, unless asked, to myself. Since the Peanut arrived, I've discovered, everyone is a parenting expert. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy the occasional piece of advice. Particularly if I post something on Facebook or forum regarding the Peanut. Clearly I'm opening myself up to comments, suggests, etc and I'm fine with that.  What I find extremely irritating is when a parent tells another parent what to do, or more annoyingly, what not to do with their child.

For starters, if it's not your kid and they didn't solicit advice from you, keep your mouth shut. My girlfriend and I had this conversation yesterday. We have very different parenting styles, I am way more uptight (hey, in yesterday's post I told you I rocked the title) than she is. I follow the doctor's advice almost verbatim, she on the other hand does her own thing. I still ask her questions from time to time and trust her advice but she doesn't call me up randomly to tell me what I should or shouldn't be doing. Honestly, if I didn't seek out her advice, she probably wouldn't cough any up.

Case in point. Recently, a friend posted a comment about their child getting shots. Another friend chimed in demanding that said person refrained from getting their child a particular shot. Huh? Regardless of what you choose for your child, you don't get to choose it for someone else's. I may feel very strongly about A while you feel very strongly about B. That doesn't make me right and you wrong, that simply means we are afforded the luxury of making the best, most well thought out decision at that time. You know what they say about hindsight...

My real point is having a child doesn't make you a parenting expert anymore than marriage makes you a relationship expert or having a driver's license makes you a driving expert. It's all about choices in life and people should be free to make their own choices without fear of judgement or having to second guess their choices because of others. End rant.