Tag Archives: Parents

Frowned Upon Parenting: Part 4

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The following post has been made thanks to the app Peanut (Not sponsored) where you can ask and interact with communities and groups of fellow Mom’s. One day I had asked one of the groups that I was in something that they would be doing that they know as a fact other mom’s or parents would be frowning upon. These were some of the things they said. For me, I will be also giving my opinion on each of the situations and hopefully you get a chuckle out of them. Some of them I know that I do or will do in my parenting journey, others I completely disagree with.

If you want to see the previous part’s as they are released they will be added here:
Frown Upon Parenting 1
Frown Upon Parenting 2
Frown Upon Parenting 3

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One parent said they would be frowned upon for having a 2 hour screen time daily rule. Now I see absolutely wrong with this personally. I would honestly see more of an issue with 0 screen time. As much as I think limiting the use of technology with children is important, I also think it is important to remember that we live in a world that is very different than when we grew up. We live in a world there there is so many things that can be done virtually that we need to bring up children differently that we were raised. Does that mean kids should be sat in front of a television and their favorite shows turned on for the entire day? No. I think limiting screen time is highly important. I also believe that having some screen time is important as well and would do far more good than absolutely no screen time at all.

*** If you are someone who is really enjoying the blogs and has the financial freedom to want to support this through tips, you are more than welcome to do so by clicking on this link to bring you to my personal Ko-Fi page. Never will you ever be pressured to support in this way however the option is there if you wish to do so! Your continued support regardless of financial or not is greatly appreciated.

One thing that a parent had said that I have absolutely no idea what they were thinking was that they do not vaccinate their children. I could not disagree with this any less even if you paid me to agree with this. There is a reason why there are some childhood illnesses that have basically been eradicated. Vaccinations are a huge part of this. If you are not vaccinating your children based on your own beliefs than I am a firm believer that this should be considered child abuse as you are not providing them medical treatment to prevent further illness. I am also of the belief that if you choose not to vaccinate your children for whatever reason, if they were to get the illness that is preventable by vaccinations than you should be charged with child endangerment for not providing the proper care to prevent them from getting sick. Now I will state if a child has an allergy or a legitimate medical reason to NOT get vaccinations than so be it. Obviously I am not saying to get that done if they are unable to.

This one kind of blew my mind, someone had stated that they actually spoil their children by serving them in their room. The only situation I can remotely see this as being OK would be if maybe they are sick and they need something and you wanted to bring it to them. I will never in my life be found serving my children in their rooms. If they want something, as my mo always said “They have 2 feet and a heartbeat” they can get up and do it themselves. I can only assume these are older kids due to the fact that my son currently enjoys opening and closing his door and has no desire to actually hang out in there so to speak.

Stay up late is kind of one of those things I think it depends on the age of the child. I wouldn’t let my 2 year old stay up til 9 or 10pm because I know he would be hateful and angry and sassy and by that point way too over tired. However I think that yes there are times when they are up a bit later than normal. It happens for sure but regularly no. There is bed times for a reason and just like adults I am sure that we don’t just stay up for the sake of staying up either.

Swearing around them is a tricky subject. As a mom of a late bloomer when it comes to words my now 2 year old at the time of writing has been repeating EVERYTHING to the point where it surprises me what he does repeat. is that to say I don’t swear at all around him? No. There are times that I do swear around him. Sometimes things slip and it happens. I do however make a conscious decision to try NOT to swear in front of him because I know some time down the road he will probably repeat the word and it may not be in a favorable place either!

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Judgemental moms against you is something that I can relate to as well as being a guilty part on that. Though I do believe there should be things that MUST be judged. If you are giving your baby random breast milk from strangers you bet your bottom dollar I will be judging that aspect of your parenting. The fact is that there is so many things parents can judge others on that if we really focused on that we would never get anything done and we would be feeling like a big ol pile of poop. Just like anything in life it is important for us to just focus on ourselves and not focus on what others see.

As you can see there really is a lot of things that parents frown upon others which is why I asked the question and figured that I would be make a mini series of what things parents know to be maybe not the normal lifestyle choices for raising kids! And why not put my own opinions within this too, because you never know how people may feel about these specific circumstances! Was there anything in the list above that you do or know you will have others frown upon your parenting style? Let me know in the comments below, maybe your point will be featured in the next set of Frowned Upon Parenting blogs!

If you would like to purchase the book you are more than welcome to do so here, though the link is for the Canadian site you may need to be redirected to the Amazon sited for your Country to be able to purchase a copy for yourself!

Frowned Upon Parenting: Part 3

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The following post has been made thanks to the app Peanut (Not sponsored) where you can ask and interact with communities and groups of fellow Mom’s. One day I had asked one of the groups that I was in something that they would be doing that they know as a fact other mom’s or parents would be frowning upon. These were some of the things they said. For me, I will be also giving my opinion on each of the situations and hopefully you get a chuckle out of them. Some of them I know that I do or will do in my parenting journey, others I completely disagree with.

If you want to see the previous part’s as they are released they will be added here:
Frown Upon Parenting 1
Frown Upon Parenting 2
Frown Upon Parenting 4

Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

Cry it out is one of those things that either works or doesnt work for people. Some parents seem to think that it is considered abuse however those same parents it seems tend to complain when their children don’t sleep through the night. For me I see nothing wrong with crying it out as a method to teaching healthy sleep habits, that being said as long as the baby is of a correct age! When my oldest son was 6 months old we decided to do a modified cry it out method. This was because we had moved him to his own crib and wanted him to learn how to put himself to sleep. Was it hard? Incredibly. But in the long run I think it did more good than not doing anything at all. We also plan on doing this the same as we did with our second son once he turns 6 months old. However he has been in his crib for a lot longer due to the fact he is so much larger than my first was and out grew his bassinette in record time!

*** If you would like to support this blog financially you are more than welcome to do so by clicking this link here to bring you to my Ko-Fi website. Supporting the blog via tips is NEVER pressured however if you feel so inclined to help out in another way this is a perfect way to do so! You can see some behind the scenes items as well as insider info on the store updates and uncensored blogs also coming soon!

Another some what controversial subject is consequences for when a child misbehaves. Some parents believe that there should be no consequences. That kids will be kids and let them live and learn. I would like to say that I kind of fall on the spectrum that there should be consequences to some extent. There is of course natural consequences that will happen when a child does something that you really don’t need to intervene about. There is also some after asking a few times to stop doing something that yes, they should have consequences. Life is about learning and if say my oldest hits my youngest there will be some sort of consequence.

Allowed sugar junk food moderation is one that can be seen as horrible. We are of the believe that kids will be kids and obviously I’m not pumping them with 4 chocolate bars in the morning for the entire day but sometimes a treat is needed. As an adult do you not get treats too? Believe it or not there is some families where they do not give any single treats what so ever and well, that is kind of mind blowing for me to think about but that is the case!

One parent had commented that they know they would be frowned upon for giving their kids chores. I see absolutely nothing wrong with this. In fact, I think the society we live in now, half the problems is that parents do every single thing for their children and don’t instill a sense of responsibility in their children. Growing up when we were able to understand and have some responsibilities we did have chores too. We would get a dollar a day if we completed it and every two weeks my mom would pay us the money. Obviously if you have teens they are fully able to get jobs than allowance would not be given however this was a great way for us to learn how to take care of the house as well as being able to save out money for things that we did like to have. You can fully bet once my son’s are old enough that I will be trying to do the same things with them in hopes to instill the same values!

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Pats on the bum is and will forever be one of the most heated discussions when it comes to raising kids. Especially now a days where it is seen as abuse and chances are when we were growing up we in fact had pats on the bum. I know for myself, I certainly did. I however am hoping to never get to that point with my own kids because I know how it felt to have your bum tanned from doing something bad. Will I say something if another person chooses to do that? No. If someone wants to do old fashioned discipline to their children that is their choice. However there is a fine line between abuse and discipline when it comes to spanking a little ones behind. I just know for myself it is not something that I would want to add to how I teach my children what is write and what is wrong.

As you can see there really is a lot of things that parents frown upon others which is why I asked the question and figured that I would be make a mini series of what things parents know to be maybe not the normal lifestyle choices for raising kids! And why not put my own opinions within this too, because you never know how people may feel about these specific circumstances! Was there anything in the list above that you do or know you will have others frown upon your parenting style? Let me know in the comments below, maybe your point will be featured in the next set of Frowned Upon Parenting blogs!

If you would like to purchase the book you are more than welcome to do so here, though the link is for the Canadian site you may need to be redirected to the Amazon sited for your Country to be able to purchase a copy for yourself!

How to Deal with Mom Guilt

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This is something that I am sure happens to both men and women who are parents however I can only speak for the moms out there. I welcome any men who may stumble upon this to write in the comments if they too feel this “Parenting Guilt”. I assume there must be this to some extent however I have no idea what that extent may be though! After all, as parents one of the most challenging things we can do is feel guilty for something or another even if the moment doesn’t warrant feeling guilty at all!

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Mom or Parenting guilt is just that. It is something that you do as a parent that you may be guilty about doing. Maybe it is disciplining your child, or maybe even you miss an early diaper rash sign and you now have a full blown rash on your baby and feel guilty it got that far too. Honestly you can have guilt for just about anything and everything when it comes to kids. There can even be times when maybe you wouldn’t have guilt for something and suddenly that changes and now you feel super guilty over some thing!

*** If you are someone who is really enjoying the blogs and has the financial freedom to want to support this through tips, you are more than welcome to do so by clicking on this link to bring you to my personal Ko-Fi page. Never will you ever be pressured to support in this way however the option is there if you wish to do so! Your continued support regardless of financial or not is greatly appreciated.

Breast feeding is one if the biggest things I think Mom’s in particular can have this guilt for. In fact, I even wrote about how we need to normalize formula feeding in a blog post here. As a society we put such a heavy weight on women to be able to breast feed our babies that it can be a huge guilt trap when you decide to stop or if you decide to jump right into formula. So much so that women who do end up stopping before they maybe planned to stop will see out donations of breast milk from random strangers on the internet. That is a whole other story that I cant even describe how alarming or dangerous it is. As a society we make it sound like breast feeding is the only way to feed a baby and if you don’t do it you are somehow taking away things from your little one. Which is completely wrong as there are many different reasons why a parent may choose not to breastfeed including for their own mental health which is also important too. It stressed me out. Especially with having my first son have jaundice and I was not sure if he was drinking an adequate amount to get rid of the jaundice too. And with my second I just went to formula and felt great!

Being sick can be tough sometimes. As parents sometimes we forget that we are not super human and that we also can get sick. Which in turn can result in our little humans missing out on something perhaps. Maybe we have a TV day because we have the flu so bad we are unable to do a whole lot. Maybe we have a cheat day with meals and make things that are incredibly fast or easy to give ourselves a break. We do not need go be feeling guilty for prioritizing our health. Which I know is a lot easier said than done. Funny enough, I am also guilty of feeling guilty!

Society constraints or how they think people should parent, I am sure is a huge source of parental guilt for parents. These are the expectations that as a society we put on parents for literally no good reason but to drive them crazy. This would be the breastfeeding part. It may also be the proper meals every single meal time of the day. Let’s not forget either the maybe having to go many many places or even the no television or ANY screen time before a child is 2 years old. As a mother to a 2 year old at the time of writing and a 4 month old I can say with confidence we limit our sons screen time but we do not eliminate it completely either. And I certainly am not going to never give my older son TV time for fear my younger one will see something.


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At the end of the day you could feel guilty about anything in your life. However when it comes to parenting there is something about it that your guilt is almost amplified and you feel even more guilty for something super small than you may not feel when it comes to something outside of parenting too. I know for me I think about things that make me guilty for far too long even though I know there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. It can be as silly as something like making eggs for supper one night instead of doing a long and thought out supper. Maybe my oldest is having a meltdown and to break that I put on a TV show earlier than I typically would put on a TV show. It really just depends on the situations but for some reason us parents are our own hardest judges.

And lastly, we have a fear that what we are doing may never be enough. Something like maybe your house is never clean enough, maybe your meals not exotic enough, maybe you put extra hour of TV on, or you never spent the money on that new expensive place for kids in the city that everyone and their dog is paying for. Maybe you don’t have your kids in the hardest or most expensive sport either.

It is so important to remember that as a parent each and every one of us learns and teaches differently. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that either. Just do what you are comfortable with and I am sure you will be raising a little genies!

Wish People Said About Birth/Pregnancy – Part 1

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Before I begin, I want to say this is something that I had asked the people on the app “Peanut”. This is an app where mothers sign up and can meet other moms around their towns and essentially become friends and hang out (Not a sponsor). However for me I felt it was far too overwhelming and in typical fashion I stopped using the app. I did however ask a question to the community, that question was “What is something you wish people told you about pregnancy or birth”. These are some responses and once the other parts become active I will be posting them below with links. And you are more than welcome to check them out yourself too!

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What do you wish people told you about pregnancy and birth Part 2
What do you wish people told you about pregnancy and birth Part 3

Breast feeding hurts is something that popped up a few times. You guys may know my stance on breast feeding in terms that I formula feed my son and did the same for my first. I breastfed for 3 days with my first child and it was not for me. When you look at movies and things you always assumed that breastfeeding was this easy thing and any parent loves to do it. This couldn’t be further from the truth. It is something that you have to literally teach yourself. And before anyone says, “maybe it hurts because of latch problems blah blah blah” it does not have to be physical hurt. I wrote a blog about normalizing formula feeding that you can read here before we often forget the mental strain of stopping the breastfeeding journey due to guilt society and other mom’s put on others.

*** If you would like to support this blog financially you are more than welcome to do so by clicking this link here to bring you to my Ko-Fi website. Supporting the blog via tips is NEVER pressured however if you feel so inclined to help out in another way this is a perfect way to do so! You can see some behind the scenes items as well as insider info on the store updates and uncensored blogs also coming soon!


Another mention someone had said was postpartum anxiety. Anyone hear the phantom crying? I know for us, my spouse and myself felt this with our first. I will also mention that the second child we had these anxieties seems to feel a bit more relaxed, maybe because we know that we have the skills needed to raise human however it doesn’t change how it felt for our first. These would be the anxiety’s that you have with your children, often times they are irrational and don’t even really make sense however they are important to note that there is a lot of anxiety after the birth of your baby. Feeling these are completely normal and if you feel like it may be something that is excessive you should reach out to a health care provider to validate those feelings and work through them as they can be hard to work through.



The physical recovery, not during child birth. I know for me I am completely guilty of this. I totally slipped my mind the use of pads and things after giving birth and only did it click when I was having my first son and a friend had given birth a few months prior had given me their heavy duty pads they used and no longer needed. I know sounds completely dumb to forget that but I never even thought about bleeding even though it made sense. That being said there is multiple types of recover. I have had the no medication birth with my first and a vaginal delivery which you can read about here. I also have had a c-section birth that I talk about here with my second child too that you can read about here. But no one prepares you for how challenging it can be to have either birth. If I had to pick I would say the c-section was the harder birth due to the fact you legit had a major surgery. I am really hoping that our last and third child when the time comes is a vaginal birth and NOT a c-section however it it happens the only thing saving me mentally is that it will be the last c-section that I ever have. The physical pain you go through, even a vaginal birth with no tearing having to walk up stairs after arriving home was so challenging holy smokes. I never even thought of that either!

Breastfeeding is not birth control. I know a few people who learned this the hard way. And based on the people commenting on this answer there was a lot of others who found that out also. Though breast feeding may delay your period and what not, it still can not be used as a contraceptive. Unless you are on birth control or using controls, if a man ejaculates inside of you there is a strong change that you could be pregnant from this. This also goes for the “having sex before 6 weeks” and you may not get pregnant. False. There is a reason why you are told to wait 6 weeks and that is due to your body healing. Saying breastfeeding is a way to prevent pregnancy is not a solid one and you may find yourself playing with fire and having a little surprise bundle in 9 months time too.

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Milestone obsessions is something that is very real and I again feel like having multiple kids does ease this up. When you have one child you become obsessed with milestones. Are they crawling on time? Rolling? Walking or standing? The fact is the spectrum is so broad that your child may be doing one or all things at once and there is no really right or wrong way. Use the milestones as a guideline but there is no need to panic if they aren’t hitting everything that they need to be at the time. It is also important to note that if a few milestones are missing at one age they may catch up and have multiple milestones happening at other ages though. Sometimes milestones are grouped up and they aren’t as spread out for people.

As you can see there is multiple things that may seem pretty obvious to others however this is not the case. This is something that maybe by writing these out a new parent may know before the situation arises! And if you are pumped to read this I can’t wait for you to read the other ones when they come out too!

Surreal Feeling of Parenting

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If you are not a parent I’m not entirely sure that you will know what this feels like. I don’t mean that in any way disrespectfully either. Just that for this particular blog, it really is only since becoming a parent that I have really noticed this.

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Since becoming a parent I have become such a sad sap it isn’t even funny. I swear that I am one of those people who now cries at any animated movie no matter how small the inconvenience is. I tear up and think about things and it makes me feel like trash only because I would poke fun at my mom who also would get sappy about things too. Before becoming a parent I would never feel this way or even admit to it but here we are.

Another thing is that I find myself feeling an overwhelming sense of relief or even sense of serenity. I know that makes me also sound like a weirdo but it’s not. I mean sometimes I am sitting on the couch. One of my son’s is playing with his blocks in front of me. We have the TV on for background noise, and then we have my other son trying to bit his teether toys furiously like he means business. I just look around and I feel a sense of happiness that I dont think I can even describe because it doesn’t even feel real. I feel a sense of wow and wonder that this is actually my life. That this is something I could never have imagined how it felt until I was in the moment. I still can’t believe that after over 2 years, maybe 3 including pregnancy, that I have been a mom and my life has been changed.

*** If you are someone who is really enjoying the blogs and has the financial freedom to want to support this through tips, you are more than welcome to do so by clicking on this link to bring you to my personal Ko-Fi page. Never will you ever be pressured to support in this way however the option is there if you wish to do so! Your continued support regardless of financial or not is greatly appreciated.

Another thing that I know people talk about often is this, Time passes sooo fast with children. I know you know people with kids and have heard at some point, whether a parent or not, you may even have heard your own parents say it, is that “before you know it, they will be growing up like weeds”, “Or off to college soon with them in the blink of an eye” or something along those lines. THIS IS TOTALLY TRUE!! Which is mind blowing right. It really is.

When we had our first child, we knew time was passing fast. When you had to change clothes or even go up diaper sizes you would think to yourself holy moly, there is a lot of time that passed we are already changing up! Well, let me tell you this, when you have more than one kid, you will notice that that time is then going twice as fast as it was with just one child! Maybe I find this is because my second son is growing so quickly and at the time of reading it is 5 months old and next month we start baby foods. I feel like we just had him!


There are even times now when both of the boys are asleep when my spouse and I are laying on the couch and we have to look at each other and wonder, “Wow, we made them” as we look at their monitors form their rooms, which is still hard to grasp. Like we made two human beings. Two little pieces of both of us mixed together they are us. I always knew when I was younger that I would have kids one day. I knew that I would be a mom. It was just a feeling that I knew. And again, I want to state if anyone not a parent is reading this, there is nothing wrong with not wanting to have children! There is enough pressure for couples to have a family that I do not want to be someone who does that. There is people who want kids and others who do not and there is nothing wrong with that.

I also know a lot of parents feel this strange passing of time due to the amount of parents on my Facebook that when their child’s birthday comes around they comment about how they maybe turned around and they already have a 10 year old! which is again, mind blowing when it comes to things also too. it really is that when you decide to have kids that time has a new meaning. I feel like days in particular happen fast too. There is a lot of times when I turn around and feel like the day has flew by and my spouse is already home from work.

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Being a parent changes you. Or I should say, being a good parent changes you, we know there is a lot of bad ones out there which I would assume their lives don’t really change at all. Being a good parent makes you want to do better, be better, get better. I have been a parent for over 2 years, including pregnancy though I would say closer to 3. I know that I have been changed by my kids and remembering who I used to be and how I dont do some of the things I did before is tough. But there is still many many days when I sit around and think in awe how great my life is. How thankful I am to have 2 children and hopefully we plan for our 3rd and final one towards the end of the year. I am starting to think that this feeling doesn’t ever fade either, It hasn’t since my oldest was born! And it still feels like he was just a little baby and in the hospital and how excited and nervous and happy I was holding him! Even if not he is Mama’s big big baby now!

Frowned Upon Parenting: Part 1

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The following post has been made thanks to the app Peanut (Not sponsored) where you can ask and interact with communities and groups of fellow Mom’s. One day I had asked one of the groups that I was in something that they would be doing that they know as a fact other mom’s or parents would be frowning upon. These were some of the things they said. For me, I will be also giving my opinion on each of the situations and hopefully you get a chuckle out of them. Some of them I know that I do or will do in my parenting journey, others I completely disagree with.

If you want to see the previous part’s as they are released they will be added here:
Frown Upon Parenting 2
Frown Upon Parenting 3
Frown Upon Parenting 4

Photo by Vidal Balielo Jr. on Pexels.com

Pro screen time can be a touchy subject. For me I grew up in the 90’s when we were sat in front of the TV with shows like Mr Rogers Neighborhood, Barney and Sesame Street. Now there is a huge discussion with sitting your children in front of the television is a huge taboo subject. They also say that having your child watch any TV before the age of 2 can stunt their knowledge. That being said, as much in life, I believe everything is good in moderation. When we were growing up there was never really any type of limiting and I feel like people grew up just fine. Now we live in a world with technology literally in our hands a lot of the time we cannot expect for our children to not be familiar with technology though either. For us, I do limit how much time my son’s get to watch TV however we do believe there is some benefits to it. You can see where I talk more about that in my top 3 shows that we watch with our son’s and the 3 shows we would rather avoid watching. Anything in moderation is great for me!

Another user said that they let their kids eat whatever and whenever they want. I know growing up as a teenager even or a child in school we did not eat anything and everything and that is a lifestyle that I think I would adapt with my own kids when they hit that age. My reasoning for this is what they should be eating things of some nutritional value. Does that mean I never give treats or snacks? No. It just means that I wont be giving my son’s bowls of crackers of chips or cereal endlessly so that they keep eating and eating and eating the entire day. There is specific times for snacks and meals there is no unlimited supply of snacks. We all can related to having kids over from school and being the house that always gave snacks and treats away. I won’t be that house especially with the price of food now a days!

*** If you would like to support this blog financially you are more than welcome to do so by clicking this link here to bring you to my Ko-Fi website. Supporting the blog via tips is NEVER pressured however if you feel so inclined to help out in another way this is a perfect way to do so! You can see some behind the scenes items as well as insider info on the store updates and uncensored blogs also coming soon!

Bed sharing is also a controversial subject. I am pretty clear on the subject as you can also read when I talk about this here in the blog where I disagree with it. In short, I dont believe in bed sharing because of so many safety reasons. I know people who do it continuously til they have children about 3 or more years old, if that is for them so be it. Growing up I was never in the same bed as my parents sleeping and there was three of us. I know growing up I wouldn’t be doing it with my children either. Does that mean that I have never done it before? No. I have if I am totally spent and looking for the extra hour and a half after my partner has gone to work before my oldest wakes up. That is not something we do regularly though because just as their safety is important, so is our sleep too.

One user said they would totally be frowned upon for finishing their kids homework. They said they have gone to bed and they have finished their homework because they may not have done it before going to bed and they didn’t want them to have to rush it in the morning. I can say with confidence this is not something I would be doing for my kids when they hit school age. Why? Because I finished school and they are the ones who are learning. That is a line straight from my mothers mouth because she or my dad had never finished our homework. That being said was there arguments because I didn’t want to do them, yes, but they still never did it for us.



Dessert first is something that one user said which I can say sometimes this had happened. Occasionally we would get take out normally McDonald’s or something and we would get an ice cream with it. Sometimes my mom would tell us we could eat the ice cream first because if not it would melt. That being said she always told us not to tell my dad (which we did!) and it was just a little fun thing she used to do with myself and my siblings. I wouldn’t say we would eat dessert every night first however there will be instances where I think this would be a fun treat for my kids!

As you can see there really is a lot of things that parents frown upon others which is why I asked the question and figured that I would be make a mini series of what things parents know to be maybe not the normal lifestyle choices for raising kids! And why not put my own opinions within this too, because you never know how people may feel about these specific circumstances! Was there anything in the list above that you do or know you will have others frown upon your parenting style? Let me know in the comments below, maybe your point will be featured in the next set of Frowned Upon Parenting blogs!

Infant and Toddler Milestones, Stop stressing!

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I know this may be a shock to some who have not had children for the past 5 or 10 years or so, however did you know that there are actually infant and toddler milestones that you are supposed to be hitting with children? I know completely insane right. I know that some of you reading this also need to hear this too… STOP STRESSING!

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When you have a baby especially in this day and age there are many many many milestones that you are supposed to be hitting. Some of them could be something as simple as your baby finding you from across the room or even turning their head towards your voice. Then you have more advanced ones like when they are old enough to say hold their head and or crawl and then standing and walking too. To be completely honest trying to keep up with all of them is exhausting.

The fact is, your child may never hit the milestones when studies or whatever says that they are supposed to. Is this a good marker to keep track of things may they have some sort of disability in the future? Sure. At the end of the day though there is no singular test or milestones that will be hit by everyone at the same time. Sometimes you may have a child who hits them all perfectly, even advanced, than you may have another one that is a bit behind in hitting them but is still hitting them. If they are hitting them even at their own pace there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with that.

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My first son was a bit of a late bloomer. He took a while to really say words. However his comprehension to things has been phonemonal. He also was a late bloomer when it came to walking too. However he flies by now when he runs around the room. My current son even though he is not even close to being a year old seems to be doing milestones also relatively quickly in comparison. I swear as soon as he was outside of my body he was trying to hold his head up for multiple reasons. Not to mention his growth is seemingly off the charts as he is growing like a weed!

I think it is important to note, when we were all children the milestones that children had to hit may not have been as known. Most of us turned out pretty alright even without those markers. Dare I even say raising kids was more relaxed in a sense because we were not comparing our kids as much as we do now, thanks to media and the advances in that for part of the reason for the shift now. Sure, they are a great thing for us to use when it comes to diagnosing certain things in children or infants. I think there were also some people who also may have gone untreated by this too.

I will mention this, having a second child I am far less worried about the milestones as I was with my first. I feel like the mentioning of this constantly can also cause even more anxiety and worry in a parent that if their little one may not be hitting them bang on like they are “supposed” to on paper that they immediately panic. I know, I was totally worried if my first son was missing a milestone here and there. You know what though? He eventually did hit all of them!

One problem now a days with parenting is that everything needs to be so technical. From these silly little milestones to even how they play. From the montesseri or whatever have you way of learning. Isn’t that what we are supposed to do anyways as parents? Why does there need to be certain ways for us to help our children learn? Not everything in parenting needs to be so thought out and done. Honestly the best thing you can do as a parent is just to go with the flow. Am I saying that routine or structure is bad? No. Of course not! But there can be some relaxation in the process. If you are a bit off schedule one day or if you have the TV on a little bit when you want to try to get something done, there is nothing wrong with that either.

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As parents we find ourselves stressing about anything and everything, and even though as we have more kids we find ourselves becoming more relaxed there is enough stressors that we really don’t need to add anything else. If your child is missing milestones a lot or maybe is far behind than obviously there is some cause for concern though but in the grand scheme of things it is completely okay for us to let things happen naturally. As I mentioned my first son has been a late bloomer in terms of talking, however now at 2 years old I swear every day he repeats a new word that I had no idea he would. The fact is, none of his doctors ever seemed alarmed by this, we as his parents were the ones who were more stressed.

Before you focus on milestones, know that you are a great parent. You are doing everything you feel right in their lives and if milestones take a bit longer than Jimmy down the road that is completely normal and okay. We need to enjoy the life we have created and watch them grow instead of trying to fit them into this timeline of when things should or shouldn’t be happening. A cause for concern should happen when the time comes, and if a doctor whom you hopefully trust, isn’t concerned than you really shouldn’t be either!

5 Feel Good Parenting Moments in the 1st Year

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Being a parent is no easy feat. There is so many things that you go through even within the first few days that have you questioning everything. Is baby happy? Am I doing this right? What is wrong with me? It can be hard to loose track of how great of a job you are doing though when you are riddled with some anxiety around parenting. That being said, even with all of the worry and anxiety surrounded by asking yourself “Am I doing what is right”. There are many moments that happen that will no doubt reassure yourself that you are a wonderful parent raising the next generation. This is some of the best things that happen within the first year that will make you feel that sign of relief that you are doing everything right!

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Crawling is a huge milestone for any baby. It really is something that you can look forward to and also one of the major things you need to prep for since baby will officially be on the move! It really is a nice feeling to see your little one finally make it a bit across the floor. Normally their first little crawl is for yourself or spouse, another sibling or maybe their favorite toy! None the less it is a major milestone that no matter when it happens whether sooner or later you are going to be so filled with happiness you will be beside yourself for a little bit! When my 1st son started to crawl I even woke up my spouse from sleeping in because i did not want him to miss it. The fact that your tiny human is becoming mobile and moving about without your help is a relief in more ways than one.

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Standing and or pulling themselves up onto things is another time when you will find yourself grinning and smiling from ear to ear. This typically is a sign that your young one will soon be walking. Pulling themselves up on to things like a table or chair is a sign that you also need to be checking what is up top of them and avoiding putting anything there. Due to the fact that they will be grabbing things they can now reach. I swear, it is like every month or so you are continuing to baby proof your house over and over again! And if you have another child that is older you already are half way there because you did it the 1st time! We even got a little walker for our first which we hope to use for our second (And third when the time comes!) to help them learn to pull themselves up also.

Laughing was a huge smile maker for myself. I don’t mean the little giggle at whatever they are thinking about. I mean the laugh where you are the one that created it. With my 1st this was when I would pretend to put his pacifier in his mouth but wiggle it on his gums or take it away really quick. I would say “Ohh too slow! I got your sookie!” And he would laugh and laugh and laugh. There is no greater feeling, or very little greater feelings than hearing and seeing your little one laugh because of you! This is a lot better then the alternative that will happen when they are teenagers when they begin to laugh AT you. Hearing your little one laugh is basically an instant mood booster also. No matter what type of mood you are in whether it be a sadder mood or even a mad one, hearing your child laugh can instantly turn that around immediately!

Trying foods was always a fun time. Especially if there were ones that you know they may not enjoy like a lemon or lime or even a raspberry which my son found was sour to begin with. Trying foods is a huge milestone because if you are like myself who bottle feeds, you can look forward to having to make less bottles because they are beginning to get full on more solids. Figuring out what you baby enjoys and doesn’t and seeing all of the facial expressions is a moment that you both will share as his pallet begins to grow! It was always funny to see his face scrunch up with different textures and foods to find out what he liked or didn’t like!

My 1st son Vincent! Playing Peek-a-boo in his blanket!

And lastly, a major milestone to look forward to is smiling! Sure, babies do smirk and smile quite frequently due to gas or whatever else. However when your little one finally smiles at you is incredible. Whether you are talking to them, or you are making a silly face, or trying to make them smile in whatever way works, seeing them fully have a real smile is a moment you will never forget! Seeing your child light up when you do that silly little thing that just gets them in their moment!

There is so many milestones within the first year of a child’s life that I could probably make more editions of this (Maybe some new blog ideas!) and each child you choose to have they may even change too. Or they could also vary in terms of child to child. For me, my first son never walked til after he was a year old. He was a late bloomer. Where as my second son maybe he will be walking before he turns one. Whatever you list as being the top moments of the first year, there is no wrong answer!

3 TV Shows That We Let My Toddler Watch

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Letting your baby or toddler have any screen time can be controversial for a topic by itself. Apparently it has been said children under 2 should not be watching anything on TV. I am in the mind set that as I was the oldest of 3 children, and if I watched TV my younger siblings may have also watched and they turned out just fine. That being said, there are only a few shows we allow my son to watch right now. Let’s chat about which ones they are and why. Before I begin though, remember there is no “right or wrong” way to divide up or limit your child from watching TV. This is a personal parenting choice. However I think it may be debatable if you choose to be a parent to put the TV on with their favorite shows from dawn til dusk to essentially be a babysitter for you.

Number one, and current favorite show for my son is Blue’s Clues as well as Blue’s Clues and You. We put this show on when he was having trouble drinking his bottle at night because he wanted to look or focus on something. I actually used to watch the original series when I was a child. For it to come out and be remade is great. I think my son personally enjoys watching this television show due to the colors that are in the show, the songs and the fact that the host essentially talks to the audience. As he grows he will learn to pick up more and more from it too. Currently he has a peek-a-boo blue which he loves and knew who she was when he was just 10 months old and got her for Christmas. He also is beginning to clap, and laugh at particular parts of the show also. And if they show a part with dancing he will start to dance along too. As annoying as it is for parents to watch the same handful of shows for long periods of times, I would gladly watch Blue’s Clues as apposed to other shows out there.

Next we started to watch the show Bubble Guppies with my son. I remember my sister putting this show on for my niece and nephew. It teaches things and again every episode has some sort of songs. It is repetitive but there is so many episodes that repeating them often would be a challenge. My son again is getting to the age where he starts to dance at songs sometimes also. He is not as interested in this show as he has been on Blue’s Clues but it is probably his second favorite though. Easily. We also put it on simply to change it up when we are all Blue’s Clues out. Since the songs are different and the whole theme is not the same it really helps to break up the repetition especially since each show tends to focus on different things. Though, if it is the same subject matters they always have a different take on approaching it for many ways to learn. The fact that songs mostly change each episode also helps in a big way since we all know as parents how repeating songs can have on us! Sometimes if our son is not enjoying Blue’s Clues we put this on and he tends to enjoy it!

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And lastly, this more so I put on for him which is Octonauts. This is a show similar to Bubble Guppies with different animals rescuing others. It teaches about different sea animals and creatures that need helping from various reasons. Again as many kids shows it has special songs for different events that happen in the show. This show only ever gets put on occasionally because the 1st two mentioned are the major favorites but if this one does end up on he does enjoy it also too.

Then you have little shows we put on from Netflix like Pocoyo, or Masha and the Bear. This is quick shows that we start the day with only when I have to get his bottle ready, use the washroom myself, and take the dog out to do his business too! It is not full episodes by any means and just enough for him to be in his play pen while I run outside with the dog and know that the dog will be safe in the process too. They also can help keep him busy if I have to do some house work, quick cooking, or flip laundry since it is on a different level than the one we play on.

Preventing your child may seem easy but it really isn’t. Not to mention when you decide to have more children if the older ones are watching TV are you going to prevent them from doing so? Or are you going to just limit technology and not let it become an obsession. The total time daily my son in particular watches TV or some type of show would be a maximum of an hour and 15 minutes per day. Sometimes the max would be two hours but only due to the fact that I may have a few extra things to do around the house that this keeps him busy. Mind you, out TV is on all the time but as long as it does not have a cartoon type show on the TV it really is not a big deal as my son has no interest in those right now. When it is on he will typically play with his toys on the floor independently.

What do you think about letting your toddler watch some TV during the day.

Is there any shows that you dont allow your little one to watch? (Read the shows that I dont put on here)

Let me know your thoughts on this controversial subject below! I love to hear different parenting styles!

The Struggles of Having a Toddler and Becoming Pregnant Again

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Being pregnant is a wonderful thing. Even if you have to get past the whole nausea and exhausted feeling. Then, comes another decision, will I have another child or stick to one. Having one child is a lot for someone who has no idea what they are doing or who has never been around kids before. Deciding to have another child while already having one can be overwhelming to say the least! Welp let’s tall about things that I found hard being pregnant and having a son who was just over a year old when we found out we were expecting again!

Expect to be tired. I think this goes without saying even when you are not pregnant and have a child. You will be even more tired. My first pregnancy when I was tired I went to nap whenever I wanted as it was summer and I wasn’t in school. With already having a child you do not have that luxury any more. I was very lucky because when I was feeling exhausted I would nap if my boyfriend was off work foe the afternoon or whenever. That way he could watch my son. Another thing I tried to do was as soon as my son went foe a nap I would go to bed and nap also. That being said, normally as would Murphys law be, when I was the most tired I would try this and they would be the days that my son would have the roughest sleep and wake up every half an hour so I would feel even worse! Being tired is part of pregnancy but having a one year old or even under 2 year old can make you feel that much more tired!

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An important thing I would recommended for with a young child even when not pregnant would be a play pen. This has saved me on more than one occasion. Babies and toddlers are fast. If I needed to run to the bathroom, felt nauseous, switch laundry, prep baby food or meals, this is a great way to know your toddler is safe when you cant be there. With a baby you can put them in a bassinet and work around when they are sleeping. With a toddler it really isn’t that simple. Especially when they drop to one nap a day and only sleep for a few hours. And before you say “Just go to bed earlier and it will help” remember in early pregnancy the amount of times you get up to use the washroom during the run of a night can be a lot. So even if you go to bed early you still are not sleeping soundly by any means!

Another struggle is your body can feel way more sore than you are used to. Maybe this is because I am out of shape and have been most of my life. But chasing around a toddler has really amplified that! In particular I tend to sit on the floor, on a pillow of course, to play with my son. By the end of the day I fi d myself taking a warm bath or warm shower and letting the water run down my lower back. We do go for walks from.time to time depending on the weather which does help. But know taking care of a first child while growing another one can be challenging. One thing my doctor said I was able to use was athletic gel. The kind that is simply menthol that I put on my lower back normally before bed. This ia not to be confused with brands like rub A535 or even brand similar. Just the normal cheap gel that cools and warms. It does help for sure.

And lastly, a struggle that can be hard but easy to overcome, finding balance! Trying to keep a routine with a toddler while being pregnant and dealing with the morning sickness, food aversions to smells, and exhaustion also too. It is okay for you to skip the dishes for one night. It is alright if you go to bed as soon as your toddler does. Leave that laundry I’m the basket for a day or two. Finding a balance can be hard and we often feel bad about skipping tasks. I am guilty of this myself. I have to remind myself that I am not a super hero and there is only so much that I can do. It is okay to put something off if you need to. Just keeping your son or daughter safe and happy while I’m early pregnancy can take a lot out of you to begin with. Don’t push yourself to the max or you will be feeling worse than you were before!

Regardless of how many kids you have or their ages, being pregnant while already having a child can be tough. Even for the most seasoned woman. Mostly due to the fact that every pregnancy is different. And you have no idea how it will effect you at the end of the day. As I mentioned before, when I was pregnant with my son things were pretty normal and easy going. Now with this child I am noticing myself wanting to catch up on sleep more, not eating as much and being sensitive to smells. Thankfully my nausea happened towards supper time when my boyfriend was home and could take over. No matter what, you are doing a great job even if you feel like you are slacking! We are our own worst enemies. No one is judging us but ourselves and sometimes we are the hardest critics. Keep going! And hopefully you find yourself in my shoes with a bit easier second semester !

Have you been pregnant with a toddler?

What was something you found difficult to balance by already being a mom and wanting to expand your growing family?

Let me know in the comments below! I would love to hear your success stories (or struggles) if you wish!