Everyone has an opinion and everyone wants to give you advice when you have a child. Some people’s advice can be helpful and others can be confusing and strange. I personally try not to listen too much when people give me their unsolicited advice. I don’t do it because I’m trying to be rude, it’s just that I’m someone who would rather find their own way. I like to figure things out on my own. I learn better that way.
Not everything that works for one child will work the same for all. Every child is different. When I first had Ryder I took a few peoples advice and tried what they recommended. It didn’t workout well. It either upset him more or just did let have a affect. That’s when I made my decision to just ignore the advice of others and find my own way as I went. There were a few people I listened to, like my doctor and my mother, but I tried to filter out all the other random advice.
I still laugh when I remember being at an event and someone asked me if Ryder was crawling yet. I told them that he skipped crawling and went right from army crawling to cruising. She got a look or horror on her face and said “oh my gosh he’s going to be behind developmentally. You need to get him to crawl.” I have no idea what look was on my face when she said that. But I replied by telling her my doctor said crawling is no longer considered a milestone because so many kids skip over it. Her reply was “I guess times have changed.” Lord! Imagine if my doctor hadn’t told me that. I might have panicked and thought something was wrong with my child! This is exactly why you need to take peoples comments and advice with a grain of salt.
When someone gives you advice or makes a comment about what your child should be doing at a certain stage, take it as you want (unless it’s your doctor). Use it or just forget about it. It’s your child and you are free to raise them as you please. You’re their momma (or daddy) and your instincts will tell you what you should do. Go with what YOU think is best. It’s all a learning process and no one is perfect!