Ranty, rant, rant
I have had it up to HEERREEE (you can't see, but my hand is WAY above my head.) with mainstream parenting these days. I'm just going to retreat into my little Free Range world and read all the books I can about all kinds of parenting. Oh? That's not possible? Yeah, it's not. As a mom, where ever I go I'm faced with people judging, people saying "this is right, this is wrong." I'm bombarded on the internet with messages of "Ferber is bad! No! It's good! No! Attachment parenting is the ONLY way to go!" It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't feel like the whole world has changed and not in the way you think I'm talking about. Our whole society has slowly been changing to one of distrust, isolation, and Nancy Grace.
No, your kid won't be kidnapped if you let them out of your sight for one minute. Kidnapping numbers are down despite Nancy Grace.
We can't put our phone numbers on FB because then someone will know it and call US! OMG. Hey, do you remember the phone book? It publishes, wait for it, phone numbers. FOR EVERYONE TO SEE!
Putting photos on the internet will result in our children being strew across the world wide web for any perv to see! Okay, but really, does some crazy perving on your kids photo actually hurt your child? No. It doesn't. It's disgusting, but it doesn't cause your child physical or mental pain. And hey, not to freak you out, but even if you FB page is locked up tighter then Fort Knox, if it's up there, it's on the internet and anyone can get to it if they have the know how. Same goes for your blog.
Any child that is a victim of molestation is a tragedy, but the people MOST likely to do that are people your children know. People you know. The most important thing you can do is to teach your children that no one is to touch them in spots their bathing suit covers and teach them to tell you if someone does.
Teaching your baby to read is the most absurd thing I've ever heard. What a bunch of mompeditor crazy talk! What practical purpose, besides parental bragging, does teaching a baby to read have? And let a kid be a kid for pete's sake! Kids learn best when they play, so skip the expensive learning systems and take them to the park or let them play with pots and pans and other kids.
I want to live in a place where my child can walk to school. I want that school to have more recess and less testing. I want to know my neighbors, not have ones that will turn me into CPS for letting my child play outside in a safe area unattended. I want to live my life without the words "BUT YOU DON"T KNOW WHAT COULD HAPPEN, ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN!" hanging over my head, guilting me. This is the way I parent, I just wish more people understood that. I wish I wasn't alone in this way of parenting.