Saturday, April 19, 2008

How to Handle Unwanted Advice

I need advice:

“Don’t feed her solids yet, she’s too young!”

“She should have shoes on when she goes out.”

“Stop touching her cheeks and she’ll stop drooling.”

“You should supplement with formula, it doesn’t look like you have enough milk.”

Some of this advice comes from well-meaning friends. Some of them come from meddling relatives. What do all these phrases have in common? They are unsolicited, and often unwanted advice. I am now living with my mom, and believe me, there’s a never-ending list of mother’s knows best advice streaming from her. The thing is, she may be my mother, but she is not my baby’s mother. It’s a little hard for her to make that distinction :). When our family lived on our own, advice from anyone was like water off a duck’s back. We went home and did exactly what we wanted with regards to raising our daughter. Now, it’s a slightly different story, and I find myself having to inhale and exhale a few times to keep my calm daily.

Please read more at Babies Online Blog.

2 comments:

WanderWish said...

Oh dear... :(

I know what you mean though. I was at home in the Phils for 2 months and while it was fantastic for them to spend that time with her, it drove me and R like mad!

Go with your instincts. You know your baby best. But in the meantime, keep inhaling and exhaling...

Hehe... that was unsolicited advice from me. Sowee!

raqgold said...

hahaha, i could relate! but you know what, i got more unsolicited advices in manila than here in germany. here, they tend to ask me first if 'this advice' would be okay :D you might be doing a lot of that inhale, exhale thing!