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“…and justice for all.�
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“…and justice for all.�
When my youngest child was born, I decided that I would raise him no differently than I did with my firstborn. I have seen far too many “youngest children” without any rules. “Not I,” I swore. “I will not be like those other parents! No Dr. Pepper at 8 months and chewing gum at 1 year.” Everything was going according to plan, until I witnessed my husband **Bob, dump our sleeping baby into his crib amongst the wipes and toys. “Are you serious?!” I asked in shock. “You’re really going to leave him there like that?!” No, of course he wasn’t. While I was watching. When did his parenting get so relaxed? I decided to look closer at my own parenting: I don’t pick up my baby right when he starts crying, nor do I spend much one-on-one time with him, like I did with my firstborn. His activities don’t include library story time, or strolls through the park, but rather “Geography” (staring out of the car window to and from picking up/dropping off the other children) and “Art” (smearing around the spit-up I haven’t wiped from the floor yet). “Math time” and “Religion” are when he’s praying that I’ll give him just one more cracker. On the plus side, he’s learning “independence” (my word for “just hold on one more second, I promise I’m coming”), and “sharing” (“Daphne, stop taking that away from him!”). I hate feeling like I’m not the same parent that I was for my other children, but the love I have for my little son is assuredly no less than the love I started out with. And that is just and fair. **name changed to protect the guilty 2 comments from 2 users
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posted by
horseloverm
on Sep 28, 2007 at 11:00 AM
Very well said, I feel the exact same sometimes about my girls!!
posted by
suzy
on Sep 28, 2007 at 12:21 PM
I have 2 boys 7 and 4 and am still experiencing the same things you are. BUT my younger has such a hand up on my older and I think a lot of it is b/c he was born second and has watched my older son, my husband and me. My younger spoke earlier than my older. He just turned 4 in August and is already writing his name with no help from us. My older on the other hand started writing his name when he was 4 1/2 yrs. and with a LOT of help and guidance from me. While my older is a confident boy my younger has a magnetism about him that draws others to him. My younger seems to understand thing quicker and I truly believe it's b/c he's got an older brother to learn from. So don't feel so bad, in many ways your younger has a lot of advantages that you don't intend him to get and that will end up giving him a huge hand's up later on!
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