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Woman With A PhD In Child Development Shares 9 “Crazy” Things She Does As A Mom That Other Parents Might Find Useful
Parents may spend hours and hours discussing and often criticizing each other’s parenting practices. And who could judge them? Everyone wants what’s best for their child, which often gets confused with thinking that they know what’s best for their child.
But Dr. Kristyn Sommer, a social media influencer and mom to “a tiny adventurer,” has somewhat of a different take on raising her child. With a PhD in child development and many scientific studies made on the subject, Kristyn is an advocate of “evidence-based parenting,” according to her TikTok bio.
Speaking of which, she has a solid fan base of 104.6K followers tuning in for her useful advice, daily adventures, and informative resources. Recently, she has been posting a series of videos about all “the crazy things she does as a mom with a PhD in child development.”
From sharing how she talks to her child to never pushing her to eat, these are some of the ideas that Kristyn really swears by! So check out her videos right below, and make sure to tell us what parenting tips and tricks you use in the comment section!
More info: Linktr.ee/DrKristynSommer
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I Don't Speak To My Daughter Like A Baby
I don't speak to my daughter like a baby. I don't say goo goo gaga, or whatever baby talk it is you want to do. That doesn't mean I don't do child-directed speech. I slow down my speech and highlight things. I point to objects, but I absolutely don't repeat the errors that she makes. If she calls something "bot bot," like a bottle, I don't say "bot bot" back. I repeat the correct word. I literally just say bottle in response to her after she says bot bot. Because she's attempting to say the word I'm saying, but if I say the wrong word back to her, the one that she was attempting to say, she's going to be reaffirmed and think that's the right word, whereas if I say bottle back to her, she gets another chance to hear how that sounds and potentially try it out as a word in her mouth.
Mine too. My mom figured it was hard enough to learn the language once. Why learn a bunch of stuff you'd just need to unlearn?
Load More Replies...Bachelors Degree in Speech language therapy here. The correct thing to do is not to "correct" them but be affirmative. For example: If she calls something "bot bot" like a bottle, don't say "bot bot" back but also don't just say "bottle" back as if correcting. Instead say: "Yes, that's a bottle" so she will know she has the right word but will also hear the correct pronunciation from you; children with normal development know very well that they don't pronounce everything right!
I never spoke to ANY baby in "goo goo gaga" b******t. It's like trying to learn Spanish while someone blabs Russian at you.
This isn't a crazy thing at all - people have known for more than a decade that 'baby talk' isn't necessary.
Try over 7 decades. Perhaps longer considering even my grandparents didn't use baby talk.
Load More Replies...Amen. I commend you our not using baby talk. My family did not use that baby talk either. My grandson is now 9 years old and he speaks well. No baby talk.
I will ALWAYS do this when I have kids. No baby-talk because I hate it personally. Kids WILL learn how to talk, even without "baby-talk".
EXACTLY. I never baby talked to my kids. Probably why, at the age of two, my son used to always tell me his 3 1/2 year-old sister was "antanonizing" him. 😆
I never did this. I spoke to my daughter in a normal voice and never made up names for things like her body parts. I think she is a better person today for that. Now my dogs... yes baby talk all day long, not sorry.
I hate that, my 9 year old granddaughter baby talks. She still calls her father Dada. Drives me crazy. I won't respond to her baby talk. My kids didn't do that when they were 2.
Thats a good way to teach ur child to pronounce words correctly.
As a baby I guess I did for awhile. But, not for very long. I wasn't perfect, I did learn better soon.
Absolutely. That's how it SHOULD be done. I raised mine like that and he could converse at 18months old. No kidding. Astonished people.
Really? I am nearly 70 and my parents never spoke baby talk nor pushed any of us to eat. Nothing new here.
I don't either..I sometimes speak in a cute voice but never in "baby talk" my mother does it but she's always corrected sometimes even by my 4yrs old.like little one pronounce a word wrong and mother would say wrong pronunciation and my 4yrs old would be like huh that's not what I'm saying. it's really not cute the whole baby talk I feel like it slows speech.
My mom didn’t do that with me, but only once I think. I called my old cat kaka instead of kitty. They would go “ yeah, kaka!” I called him that because they would say “ ka-ka-kitty” and I would say Kaka
and that attitude is why people need to pass an intense exam before they have children. That was just making a point, by the way.
Load More Replies...I've always done this otherwise you are expecting your child to learn two languages. Ist it's a Choo Choo then it's a train !!!etc
could also do without filters... seems however pretty! whats a BAD habit!
One fine morning long ago a mom said; "Eshy, want a cim bim bum?" and the child said; "My name is Shelly, and yes I'd like a cinnamon bun"
Research has shown that there's a reason that people the world over use "baby talk" when talking to babies and young children. It's good for them. And all kids eventually outgrow using cutesie names for things. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/many-ways-baby-talk-gives-boost-infant-brains-180955435/
It gets me so mad when my mom does that to my little sister and I’m like just use the right words so she doesn’t get confused
My family never used baby talk, except for one person, and we all kept the kids away from her.
My aunt and uncle did not do this for my cousin and he can't talk at three
Opposite for my cousin... They don't baby talk him at all and he's already speaking at less than two.
Load More Replies...Bored Panda reached out to Kristyn Sommer, the author of these viral TikTok videos who gained a huge following on her social media, both TikTok and Instagram. The mum of an almost-2-year-old, Kristyn lives in Australia, where she teaches development psychology at a university.
“I actually started on TikTok posting videos about my experience with postnatal anxiety and my first-ever viral video was one of how my husband supported me during that time (he’s a pretty amazing human),” she recounted on starting out. “After that video went viral, I posted another one about crazy things I do as a mum in child development that I thought might surprise people because they surprised me when I decided to do them. And that went viral too and created a community of parents who parented like me!”
I'm Super Super Lazy
I'm super super lazy. Now everyone's lazy is different. So this is my lazy. I subscribe to the term "lazy parenting" which @scienceminded has a great post on, so go look at that. Basically I sit back and observe my child while she's playing. I might set up an invitation or two, but that's it. I try not to get involved. And there's a Montessori philosophy that is "help as little as possible, but as much as necessary" and that really kind of works well with lazy parenting ideology. I don't want to have to constantly be entertaining my child. I'd like to observe her and help her when she needs it, but not all the time. I also don't interrupt her. And this is a really hard thing to do as a parent. You might be like "no, that isn't how you play with it, let me show you" but interrupting them stops their workflow. They're learning when they're failing. That's why I don't interrupt her, unless she asks for help and really needs it.
I Don't Worry About How Much She Is Eating
I don't worry about how much she is eating. I don't panic that she's hasn't eaten enough today, therefore she's starving. And she's going to wake up a million times tonight. Science has proven that kids don't really do that. They don't wake up if they're hungry unless they're starving. Obviously. And if they do wake up in the middle of the night hungry? Is that so weird? Do you sometimes wake up in the middle of the night hungry? Probably. What I prefer to do is make sure that she listens to her body. If in that moment when I'm serving her food, she's not hungry, that's ok. Maybe 20 minutes later she's hungry, then that's ok too, I'll feed her food then. Think about how you feel when you're hungry, and when you want food. Your child is exactly the same but without the same kind of self-control mechanisms. And without the ability to actually go and get themselves a snack. So if you want my advice, stop stressing about what your child's eating and when, and just let them tell you.
Finding that community of parents not only made Kristyn feel less alone, but it also “inspired me to do the same for them." "So I started posting content busting parenting myths that I know make parents feel guilty/insecure/uncomfortable with the goal of empowering them into taking charge of raising their own kids their own way (which was something I wished I had someone do for me in the early days of parenting). And now we’re here!”
Kristyn added that she serves up her opinions and things she does as a mum, and she also chucks in a bunch of fun facts about kids from the science of child development.
I Trust Her Independence Of Little Bit More Than Most Would
I trust her independence a little bit more than most would. And I still did it safely. We don't have a baby gate on the stairs, but we used to. But there's still a baby gate at the top of the stairs because she sleeps in her own bed and can get out whenever she likes.
The highchair, we trust her with it. This is what we did. We took the front of the highchair so now it's just a normal chair. She actually climbs in it on her own. It's awesome because we don't have to lift her up all the time. And yes, she's 1 year old. To keep her from screaming at my feet when I cook dinner, we got a leaning tower. She loves it. She helps me cook.
When asked what would be the main differences in how Kristyn parents her child and others, she said that “I don’t stress too much about how my kid is developing. I don’t worry whether she’s hitting milestones late or early. I don’t compare her to any other children and wonder why she isn’t doing the same thing.”
Kristyn added that her understanding of how children develop has taught her that there is huge variability between kids and there are a bunch of different ways of parenting that will all result in a happy, healthy child!“I am completely child-led and practice gentle discipline and positive parenting,” Kristyn explained.
“I think these concepts are fairly new but they’re definitely gaining a lot of traction now and spreading quickly across the social media platforms. So I think these approaches might be surprising to a lot of people but they’re becoming well-accepted and I’m stoked that I get to be a person to normalize these approaches for other parents.”
I Give My Kid Screen Time
I give my kid screen time. Now we all know the AAP recommends no screen time for children under 2. But these recommendations aren't realistic. Multiple studies have proven that this just isn't being listened to because it's not realistic for parents. Kids are getting away. Kids are getting away with more screen time than the AAP recommends That doesn't mean I think you should put your kid in front of the screen for 8 hours a day, but I do think there's a time and place for it. My kid is a car screamer. She screams her head off in the car. I pass her my phone with YouTube on it. And that's it. She watches coco melon and blippi. And she doesn't scream anymore. And I don't have a panic attack.
We used to watch Blippi.... Until he did an episode with "Sink or Float" IN THE POOL. 😡 My toddler then copied it and threw my husband's brand new Milwaukee drill into the pool, when he set it down for two seconds to readjust his grip.
I Let My Kid Get Messy
I let my kid get messy, like really really messy, but I'm so into her getting messy that I make her all these special sensory materials so she can get even messier again. Why messy sensory play is really good for children's development: it's great for cognitive development and helps develop and enhance memory and encourages language development, particularly abstract concepts. It really helps calm an agitated kid down. It enhances fine and gross motor skills and hand-eye coordination, amongst a whole host of other things. On top of that, it's also inclusive. Every single child can engage in messy sensory play. So I do a lot of sensory play with my daughter. I do it almost every day. So I know how hard it can be to think about what sensory activity to do next and to find recipes that are safe for babies to eat, because we all know babies are going to eat it for all ages.
I Don't Give My Kid A Bedtime
I don't give my kid a bedtime. One: It doesn't work and it just made my mental health worse, because I was trying to put her to sleep and tearing my hair out and spending hours doing it, and two: she's clever. She knows when she needs to go to sleep. Just like you. Sometimes you're not tired at bedtime. These are just a couple of the crazy things I do and if you don't do them, that's okay too.
I feel like a lot of people wouldn't do this raising a teenager, because they're like "oh they'll just stay up all night texing". No. I personally like to stay up late to read, and my parents don't understand I have a body clock and I'm not just gonna stay up all night.
Kristyn’s TikTok bio mentions “evidence-based parenting,” so we asked her about that. Turns out it’s the idea that you use the current leading scientific thought to guide your parenting decisions. “This is actually really hard for normal parents to do because it involves being able to read and understand scientific literature (a lot of it) and translating it into practical parenting applications.”
She confessed that it’s honestly even difficult for her, “but I’m lucky because I’ve been teaching development psychology for many years now). There are some evidence-based parenting programs out there (like the positive parenting program) but in lieu of people doing courses like that, I thought I’d try and bring that content directly to the average parent's phone screen in 60-second clips (which is such a hard thing to do when I usually give 2 hour lectures!!)”
Kristyn concluded that she’s really enjoying doing this at the moment, and although she said “I’m not perfect and still learning, it’s been pretty amazing to hear from other parents who are feeling validated and inspired by the evidence-based parenting content I share. That’s my primary goal with TikTok!”
My Baby Doesn't Sleep In A Cot
My baby doesn't sleep in a cot and never has. We had to sell it because she wouldn't let me put her in the cot. She hated it. Instead, she has a double bed.
I Never Gave My Baby Purees Ever
I never gave my baby purees ever. I did baby-led weaning. Baby-led weaning is when you give your baby finger food from the start. You never give them mashed up food, the idea of baby-led weaning is that they learn to chew before they learn to swallow. Whereas with purees, they learn to swallow before they learn to chew. Apparently lots of people say that this teaches them food skills, good food hygiene, and makes them less picky, all of this sort of folk knowledge. You know what my subjective experience is? This is only anecdotal, not evidence-based. My kid didn't eat food properly until she was 14 months old. I did everything perfectly. I had the right gear. I had the Stokke Tripp Trapp highchair. All the right weaning tools. I prepared all the food perfectly and she still didn't start swallowing food for a really long time and then didn't take to food until she was 14 months old. So if you ask me, feed your baby how you like.
Funny, I thought babies learned to swallow before they learned to chew since they are breast/bottle fed until they're old enough to move on to more solid food.
I don't get what's crazy about those things, or what her PhD has to do with anything. Are educated people in child-anything the better parents? I doubt it. Put intuition before academics, and your upbringing of children will be much more relaxed. Just my uneducated bit.
To be honest, she sounds like an obnoxious know it all. Now I went into parenting with zero ideas and my kids quickly taught me that book knowledge, even things that have been researched to death do not matter to them. And even though I agree with many things, she has zero experience to look back at with a baby at her hands. I also am very aware what a PhD's actually means. It means you researched the tiniest bit of your field to nice depth. Period. Won't help with parenting at all.
Load More Replies...I had trouble getting past how filtered she looks. why oh why do people do this?!? Afraid people will know they have skin?
Or worse, that people would be more or less interested in what she has to say depending on her skin?
Load More Replies...Her advise does not appear to be based on her degree, rather it is based on her experience with one child...who is still a baby... that kind of advise is all over the internet.
So true tho, there are way too many mommy bloggers who think they have it all figured out because they have one easy baby. Meanwhile those of us who have children with special needs get absolutely nothing from these parenting blogs.
Load More Replies...I think children need to routine. Allowing them to do what they want when they want is not realistic - she'll realize this when kiddo reaches school age.
What you think might work for you, but what you think doesn't work for all. If you do have a kid with a strong will, not fighting everything becomes the way to go, so you can focus on what actually matters in raising your kids. And some kids fair very well with daily routines (although having certain freedoms everyday is a way of having a routine too), others are just easy going and follow first before asking questions.
Load More Replies...I think these articles are really helpful to hear, I get too caught up on Instagram & social media where parents only put up all the good things & I constantly feel inadequate if I leave my kid to play by himself or if he only eats half a piece of toast for lunch. Sometimes you just need someone to say, this is what I do, you're not alone & it can make your day a bit better so thank you from a mum who is constantly feeling like she's failing.
Don't feel inadequate, or judge yourself against your perception of others. You know your kid, and what makes them happy. One of the best thing for kids is happy parents - parenting is stressful enough anyway, just try to minimise the pressure on yourself, and enjoy as much as you can.
Load More Replies...One thing I learned from my daughter's daycare - asking if you can pick them up before doing so, even before they can understand the words. Telling them when you are going to do something with their body - (ie, okay, now I'm going to wipe the poop off your bottom with the wipe.) These things build the notions of bodily autonomy and consent into the adults and child's interactions right from the beginning and makes these things expected and normal. One of the best things I learned.
I think it's kind of sad that most of her 'crazy ideas' are simply common sense. Your child refuses to eat dinner? No big deal, they'll be hungry soon enough. Your child won't sleep at your allotted sleep time? Change the bedtime. Easy. But it seems that parents these day are so uptight about being the perfect parent to the perfect child that the common sense has left & it takes this woman to say it's all ok on TikTok to reassure them, which is nuts! It is absolutely ok to not sign your child up to every extracurricular activity possible. You don't have to be SuperMom. If your child's room is a mess, don't worry, it just means they are having fun! The house does not need to be perfect, it needs to be a home with imperfect people who make mistakes. Let your kids explore & get dirty, it will do them good & help their immune system! Go with your gut instinct. And maybe stay off of social media for a while, watching fake 'perfect people will kill your confidence every time.
I was an older first time mom at 41. I did not read baby books...not one. I did everything this woman suggested except for the baby food thing. I did what was natural for my baby. I grew up in the country. We had lots of independence. We got dirty. My parents bought me toys but never told me what to do with them. Things got messy. We picked them up. I raised my son in much the same way. My son grew up to be a responsible man. He was ready to leave home at 18 and never looked back. He became a minister and then he got his BS with little or no assistance from me or his dad. Thanks for writing this. I often felt like a bad mom. Little did I realize that my way of parenting was preparing my son to be an independent adult. I thought that I was just lucky that he turned out that way.
I did most of these things..and I don't have a PHD. I just learned my kids and learned what worked best for US. I'm not trying to downplay her at all...if anything it validates me and that it is ok to do things "different". And funny thing...my kids are just fine. Smart. Independent and they are their own people and I love that about them. I'm also probably lazy...lol..so it all works out!
And you don't need to have a PhD to know these things. I'm not knocking her so don't start with the mean comments. I always tell new moms use your instinct your baby is yours and you have to do what works for the two of you (or three, four....)
I also encouraged my child to use my computer as much as possible. I would buy stacks of computer games for preschoolers. Why you ask? The current thought is to limit screen time on children. My child was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 4. He was a wild impulsive kid. He also had a severe learning disability. I knew computers were the future of the world. I encouraged them at every turn. He struggled through school but he did graduate HS. He decided he needed more education. He became a minister and got a BS in computer graphic design! They now have computer programs to help children with ADHD! Never underestimate a mother's instincts.
WAIT THEY DO can you name some free ones for teens if there are any, this is what I need!!! (I'm a teen with ADHD)
Load More Replies...Another example of someone educated far beyond their intelligence...
Wtf is a double bed? Like an adult size bed? Because she could still fall off the bed.
You can put the bed (individual or double) at floor heigth, so babies/children don't fall off. It isn't new. They're sold at ikea, for example.
Load More Replies...A PhD in child develoupment is much, you can take a course if it jn high school, but this is decent advice for a small baby, wich is ehat she has amd is experienced with. Curious to see how she feels 4-15 years down the road. My personal belief is that it takes a village to raise a child. A mix of everything. A mix of involvement and non involvement etc. A child needs structure, but different people and rules and etc depending on the situation/child/place/time
I think instinct and getting to know your kids will make you a good parent, Ever heard of Dr. Spock he was supposed to be a great expert in rearing children - he spouted garbage we had to learn this and then had to unlearn it! Waste of time!
I think you have to adapt and adjust your parenting based on the child. I did that with my 3 and that worked best for us. The morals/values/life lessons I taught/teach my kids are the same and don't change but my style is fluid. I have 2 boys and 1 girl. My daughter is very strong willed and independent so I give her the space she needs to excel all while being extremely close and open. One son is more dependent on me specifically and very clingy so I give him what he needs to excel. Every human is different so I tailor my parenting accordingly. Being a parent is the hardest job but by far the best!
Wow I wasn’t expecting to get a bunch of validation from a child development expert but I guess our instincts must be good! I love love LOVE letting the kid play on his own and just offering company and a little support when he needs it while I do my own thing. He is thoroughly entertained and we’re not frazzled.
I’m guessing “doing your own thing” involves being on your phone?
Load More Replies...So basically she is a normal parent. Welcome to the club love, you are not special. Your PhD means nothing. You do everything we already do.
I wish I could share this with my Aunt. But she might take it the wrong way. She just had her first child and she’s so overly protective and she doesn’t leave her for one minute. She’s always in someone’s arms. It’s to the point if someone doesn’t lift her she starts screaming for attention.
The most highly educated people are also the most socially retarded. She a Gen Z-X moron.
Wow. The irony in this comment is incredible.
Load More Replies...I don't get what's crazy about those things, or what her PhD has to do with anything. Are educated people in child-anything the better parents? I doubt it. Put intuition before academics, and your upbringing of children will be much more relaxed. Just my uneducated bit.
To be honest, she sounds like an obnoxious know it all. Now I went into parenting with zero ideas and my kids quickly taught me that book knowledge, even things that have been researched to death do not matter to them. And even though I agree with many things, she has zero experience to look back at with a baby at her hands. I also am very aware what a PhD's actually means. It means you researched the tiniest bit of your field to nice depth. Period. Won't help with parenting at all.
Load More Replies...I had trouble getting past how filtered she looks. why oh why do people do this?!? Afraid people will know they have skin?
Or worse, that people would be more or less interested in what she has to say depending on her skin?
Load More Replies...Her advise does not appear to be based on her degree, rather it is based on her experience with one child...who is still a baby... that kind of advise is all over the internet.
So true tho, there are way too many mommy bloggers who think they have it all figured out because they have one easy baby. Meanwhile those of us who have children with special needs get absolutely nothing from these parenting blogs.
Load More Replies...I think children need to routine. Allowing them to do what they want when they want is not realistic - she'll realize this when kiddo reaches school age.
What you think might work for you, but what you think doesn't work for all. If you do have a kid with a strong will, not fighting everything becomes the way to go, so you can focus on what actually matters in raising your kids. And some kids fair very well with daily routines (although having certain freedoms everyday is a way of having a routine too), others are just easy going and follow first before asking questions.
Load More Replies...I think these articles are really helpful to hear, I get too caught up on Instagram & social media where parents only put up all the good things & I constantly feel inadequate if I leave my kid to play by himself or if he only eats half a piece of toast for lunch. Sometimes you just need someone to say, this is what I do, you're not alone & it can make your day a bit better so thank you from a mum who is constantly feeling like she's failing.
Don't feel inadequate, or judge yourself against your perception of others. You know your kid, and what makes them happy. One of the best thing for kids is happy parents - parenting is stressful enough anyway, just try to minimise the pressure on yourself, and enjoy as much as you can.
Load More Replies...One thing I learned from my daughter's daycare - asking if you can pick them up before doing so, even before they can understand the words. Telling them when you are going to do something with their body - (ie, okay, now I'm going to wipe the poop off your bottom with the wipe.) These things build the notions of bodily autonomy and consent into the adults and child's interactions right from the beginning and makes these things expected and normal. One of the best things I learned.
I think it's kind of sad that most of her 'crazy ideas' are simply common sense. Your child refuses to eat dinner? No big deal, they'll be hungry soon enough. Your child won't sleep at your allotted sleep time? Change the bedtime. Easy. But it seems that parents these day are so uptight about being the perfect parent to the perfect child that the common sense has left & it takes this woman to say it's all ok on TikTok to reassure them, which is nuts! It is absolutely ok to not sign your child up to every extracurricular activity possible. You don't have to be SuperMom. If your child's room is a mess, don't worry, it just means they are having fun! The house does not need to be perfect, it needs to be a home with imperfect people who make mistakes. Let your kids explore & get dirty, it will do them good & help their immune system! Go with your gut instinct. And maybe stay off of social media for a while, watching fake 'perfect people will kill your confidence every time.
I was an older first time mom at 41. I did not read baby books...not one. I did everything this woman suggested except for the baby food thing. I did what was natural for my baby. I grew up in the country. We had lots of independence. We got dirty. My parents bought me toys but never told me what to do with them. Things got messy. We picked them up. I raised my son in much the same way. My son grew up to be a responsible man. He was ready to leave home at 18 and never looked back. He became a minister and then he got his BS with little or no assistance from me or his dad. Thanks for writing this. I often felt like a bad mom. Little did I realize that my way of parenting was preparing my son to be an independent adult. I thought that I was just lucky that he turned out that way.
I did most of these things..and I don't have a PHD. I just learned my kids and learned what worked best for US. I'm not trying to downplay her at all...if anything it validates me and that it is ok to do things "different". And funny thing...my kids are just fine. Smart. Independent and they are their own people and I love that about them. I'm also probably lazy...lol..so it all works out!
And you don't need to have a PhD to know these things. I'm not knocking her so don't start with the mean comments. I always tell new moms use your instinct your baby is yours and you have to do what works for the two of you (or three, four....)
I also encouraged my child to use my computer as much as possible. I would buy stacks of computer games for preschoolers. Why you ask? The current thought is to limit screen time on children. My child was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 4. He was a wild impulsive kid. He also had a severe learning disability. I knew computers were the future of the world. I encouraged them at every turn. He struggled through school but he did graduate HS. He decided he needed more education. He became a minister and got a BS in computer graphic design! They now have computer programs to help children with ADHD! Never underestimate a mother's instincts.
WAIT THEY DO can you name some free ones for teens if there are any, this is what I need!!! (I'm a teen with ADHD)
Load More Replies...Another example of someone educated far beyond their intelligence...
Wtf is a double bed? Like an adult size bed? Because she could still fall off the bed.
You can put the bed (individual or double) at floor heigth, so babies/children don't fall off. It isn't new. They're sold at ikea, for example.
Load More Replies...A PhD in child develoupment is much, you can take a course if it jn high school, but this is decent advice for a small baby, wich is ehat she has amd is experienced with. Curious to see how she feels 4-15 years down the road. My personal belief is that it takes a village to raise a child. A mix of everything. A mix of involvement and non involvement etc. A child needs structure, but different people and rules and etc depending on the situation/child/place/time
I think instinct and getting to know your kids will make you a good parent, Ever heard of Dr. Spock he was supposed to be a great expert in rearing children - he spouted garbage we had to learn this and then had to unlearn it! Waste of time!
I think you have to adapt and adjust your parenting based on the child. I did that with my 3 and that worked best for us. The morals/values/life lessons I taught/teach my kids are the same and don't change but my style is fluid. I have 2 boys and 1 girl. My daughter is very strong willed and independent so I give her the space she needs to excel all while being extremely close and open. One son is more dependent on me specifically and very clingy so I give him what he needs to excel. Every human is different so I tailor my parenting accordingly. Being a parent is the hardest job but by far the best!
Wow I wasn’t expecting to get a bunch of validation from a child development expert but I guess our instincts must be good! I love love LOVE letting the kid play on his own and just offering company and a little support when he needs it while I do my own thing. He is thoroughly entertained and we’re not frazzled.
I’m guessing “doing your own thing” involves being on your phone?
Load More Replies...So basically she is a normal parent. Welcome to the club love, you are not special. Your PhD means nothing. You do everything we already do.
I wish I could share this with my Aunt. But she might take it the wrong way. She just had her first child and she’s so overly protective and she doesn’t leave her for one minute. She’s always in someone’s arms. It’s to the point if someone doesn’t lift her she starts screaming for attention.
The most highly educated people are also the most socially retarded. She a Gen Z-X moron.
Wow. The irony in this comment is incredible.
Load More Replies...