…I know, everyone feels this way, AND YOU SHOULD!!! Well, every now and then, when they DESERVE IT, that is…!
Hello Tired Troopers!
Not to brag, but to totally 1000% brag… I LUCKED OUT BIG TIME AND GOT THE BEST BABIES IN THE WORLD! Let me explain, so remember my post Treat Them Like Little Humans And They Will Rise To The Expectation? Well that was always my plan because that’s how I was raised and it was further reinforced with the few parenting books I’ve read so far. One of my favorites being, Bringing Up Bebé. Basically if you treat them like people (not babies) they will act like people. Now this isn’t treating them like adults, they’re babies for goodness sake! But treating them like little people who have their own likes and dislikes and can work through problems and learn and grow. It’s never too early to treat a child like an actual person. For example, I took advice straight out of the book Bringing Up Bebé, and literally took my kids around our house and gave them a full on tour the first day we brought them home. Now, our house is very small, so the tour was pretty short, but that is the kind of precedence we wanted to set for our kids. Just treat them like little tiny brand new family members, because that’s what they are!
Now this isn’t a full proof system, if it was every baby would slide right into their new roles and immediately start helping out lol sure, yeah, right! I’m just saying that I really do believe there is something to this! And even if it doesn’t work for you and your kids at first, maybe it will at 3 months, maybe it will at 6 mo or 1 yr or whatever. It will build and build on itself as your child grows up. Your expectations will change as needed to be age appropriate, but your expectations will build upon themselves and your child will build their skills as well. Win, win! Plus, in treating them like the little humans they are and not “babying them” they will have the freedom to hit or even surpass your expectations earlier than they would otherwise. I believe it will also give them a stronger sense of self, a lot of self-confidence, and make for a stronger family bond.
Another example that Bringing Up Bebé talks about is the fact that French babies start “doing their nights” AKA sleeping through the night, way earlier than American babies. The theory is that French families treat babies like tiny brand new family members (remember, they do the house tours too, etc.) with the same or similar expectations that all the members of the family have. The average baby in France starts sleeping through the night at 3 months. Well, is it just a coincidence that the average French working mom goes back to work at 3 months OR could it be because in treating the baby like an actual person who is part of the family with their own expectations the baby realizes it’s their responsibility to start “doing their nights” so mom can rest and go to work in the morning…??? I really do believe that children are 100% pure potential and have way more understanding then we could ever imagine. Way more than we can fathom from day one. The more we try to nurture that in our children, the more it will grow. And it’s never too early to start!
Shoot, I actually started it when my babies were still in the womb. I lost my first pregnancy and was terrified it would happen again… so first of all, as soon as I knew I was pregnant again I told them to hang on and stay in there… which they accomplished! Then, when my little girl’s tummy was measuring in the 1.6th percentile I told her to hang on and rest and grow as much as possible and I told her brother to look out for his sister and to take care of her. Now, I don’t have any proof that my kids did this just because I talked to them, BUT they did do it and I sure started treating them like little members of the family as soon as I knew they existed.
Now, it could be how my husband and I have decided to raise them in this way or it could be complete dumb luck or some sort of combo of the two BUT my kids have been sleeping through the night since 3 months old. They never cry, and when they finally do it’s because something is actually wrong. Loud noises and our dogs barking at every delivery person that comes to the door doesn’t wake them and if they do wake them they put themselves right back to sleep. If they can tell I’m tired or stressed they let me sleep. They sleep in in the mornings and go to bed early! It’s like from 3 months on they understood that they are part of this family and in this family everyone pitches in, so somehow they figured out how to pitch in where they can. How did I get this lucky?! And I’m not saying it’s all rainbows and unicorn farts at my house cause its far from it. And it took work to get them to sleep through the night, see my blog, “Sleep Training”. But I have to give my kids credit where credit is due! Some of my closest friends have horror stories about their kids and that just hasn’t been my experience so far!
A gf did say her easy baby was a hard toddler and her hard baby was an easy toddler, so maybe my time is still coming… (dun, dun, duuuuuunnn) but for now I truly do have the best kids in the whole world!!! So I better get my shit together now juuuuust in case shit ends up hitting the fan later… so stay tuned cause i know that’s inevitable!
The first 3 months were crazy hard though and taking care of them is still crazy hard even with sleeping at night and full time help! But my kids were absolutely amazing today and I just appreciate how they really try to help where they can. I’m just so thankful for them and had to give them kudos big time! Thank you babies, I love you more than you could ever know! Your tired, TIRED Mama thanks you with all her heart!
