.yes, I do want your opinion on how to raise my children.

If you can't tell, I'm being sarcastic.

From the moment you tell the world that you've done the no-pants-dance and you're growing a human inside your body, people literally HAVE to tell you what to do. 

Kindly fuck off

I love advice and I'll soak that shit up like a sponge but how I choose to raise my kids, has really nothing to do with anyone.

Don't start a sentence with 'you have to'

I hate that shit. I don't have to do anything. I'm a grown ass woman, I know what I'm doing, I know how to life. I even have grey hairs.

I love hearing about other peoples experiences and how they over came obstacles etc. but the way some people (usually idiot strangers who must think that I may be stupid) deliver the advice, is hideous. 

Don't bottle feed, don't use a bouncer, don't feed your baby rice cereal, do bottle feed, don't use a baby bath, do use a baby bath. 

There is so much contradictory information/advice out there that I decided to stop listening a long time ago: I will do what's best for MY family. 

I remember when I told a mid-wife that I was unsure if I would breast feed or not. Not that it's any of her business anyway. She had no idea about my history with breast feeding and the tongue tie issues my children had. Yet she told me I would need to speak to a breast-feeding specialist; just because I was unsure. So, I felt pressured into it for 7 weeks, feeling depressed the whole time because my son had reflux so horrendous that he would scream ALL FECKING NIGHT..... She wasn't there...... To comfort me, to comfort him, to hear my son scream, to watch me cry on the kitchen floor or to help me at 3am every morning. I know her intentions were good but 1 day after putting my son on the bottle, the screaming stopped... And my sanity returned.

As mums, we should never feel pressured into doing anything! We don't really have to tell anyone how we are choosing to parent our kids. I don't mind being open and honest about the way I do things but I don't think that's an invitation to advise me to do it differently. 

Ok, sometimes I do try to do things the way others suggest, usually everything goes to shit and I hate myself for listening to others. The way we do things works for me and MY family.  

Children are all different. They're never going to all act the same way. And neither are adults. 

So, quit telling me what to do. Unless I ask - and even then, I still might not listen...

xx

You, me + 3