As a parent, there is a never ending supply of tips and advice you get from books, blogs and other parents. With so much wisdom out there, many parents routinely look to outside sources for help instead of listening to their inner voice. This might leave some wondering if raising your child is best left to the experts or if you can trust your parenting instincts.
It’s Okay to Trust Your Feelings
No one knows your kids better than you do, as their parent. When it comes to what they like or what makes them more comfortable, you have a better understanding of your children than anyone. Of course, this awareness doesn’t happen right away. You didn’t know or understand all of your baby’s needs from the moment he or she was born. It was a learning process. But you’ve been with them all of their lives and know what their likes and needs are. If a parenting blog’s advice doesn’t feel right for you or for your kids, it probably isn’t. Trust your gut.
Every Situation is Different
While going with your gut might be the best thing to do in some situations, you should seek more feedback about your issue. It’s always a good idea to seek out a trusted friend or guide. It’s very important to take some time to consider each situation and what your instincts are telling you that you should do. Sometimes our emotions can make it difficult to see what is best for our kids, because our heart wants us to do what makes them happy.
How to Find Balance
In order to avoid investing too much in either the advice of others or our own (sometimes misguided) instincts, it’s important to become accustomed to relying a bit on both. If the advice you hear lines up with what your gut was telling you, it may mean that you were right in the first place.
Other parents won’t know every detail of your own family’s unique situation, but their tips might still bring a fresh perspective. It never hurts to learn a bit about parenting styles or strategies that are different than your own. But, it’s also up to you to decide which of these will work for your family and which you have a bad feeling about.
While your parenting instincts are by no means fool-proof, it’s important that you take them into consideration when you make decisions that affect you or your family. When it comes down to whether or not a particular parenting strategy will work, there are many important factors that only you as the parent could know about.
Remember that no one is perfect and no parent comes up with the best solution to every one of life’s sticky situations. While you can’t always trust your parenting instinct, you should always listen to it and consider what your feelings tell you about a situation.