One of my favourite quotes comes from a Salt & Peppa song of all places: “Opinions are like ass holes and everybody’s got one!” I don’t think I truly knew what this meant until I had a child. It amazes me how people always have two cents to share when it comes to children. How you should dress them, how you should raise them, how you should scold them, etc. I don’t believe that I ever offered an opinion to my friends who were raising children before me unless I was asked, but if I did offer unsolicited advice, please accept my sincerest apology.
I also never realized the amount of parenting groups that are on the various social media channels. Parents essentially post their problems and in one group, have up to 10,000 people who can ‘advise’ them on the issue having gone through it themselves or just offering advice.
During our mommy group yesterday we had a sleep specialist come in and talk to us about things we can do to get our little ones down. She referenced how please as a parent, take the time to seek out professional advice as opposed to just posting your questions on Facebook for randoms to comment. I found it interesting that in the day of social media and everyone being so connected with our smartphones we rather post/tweet/pin our issue than actually seek out knowledgeable individuals in the field of our issue. Now having been up for 48 hours and at your wits end I understand it is easier to post something on Facebook at 3am than wait until 9am when an office will open but I just advise be careful as to what advice you are getting and how you’re using it.
Opinion, opinions, opinions, the only ones that really matter are those of yours and your partner. Take everything with a grain of salt and remember you’re the parent for a reason!
