Why the heck does the world need another parenting blog?

Why indeed....

I was talking to my friend and colleague Andy today and he hit me with the news that his partner is expecting a baby, due in November. Whilst I was reeling with the delight that this news obviously brings, I was then sucker-punched by a related revelation that came out of nowhere:

"I'm quite interested in Gina Ford's approach."

My instinctive reaction was to scream "No!!!!" and grab him by the shoulders and shake him until the Contented Little Baby book fell from his innocent fingers and every grubby idea from it was shaken from his brain.

But I didn't.

Instead I said I'd give him a few links to give him another point of view.

And really, that's the reason for this blog. I have lost count of the number of times I'm innocently asked my opinion on child-related matters. When one has a child, it becomes the instant subject of at least 50% of conversations with others who also have children. This is why childless people think parents are boring. We're not boring; we just inhabit a different world.

So I shall, as the mood takes me, blog some stuff here about anything and everything child-related, from birth to breast feeding to sleeping to eating to potties and nappies and on to education, discipline and anything else that seems appropriate. As my DD is 6 and my DS is now 3 months I expect I will be finding new things to find out about, decide about, and put into practice for a long time to come.

So, this blog is not meant to be prescriptive. It's not a 'how to' guide to dealing with your kids. It is meant to be a guide to what we do with ours, the whys, wherefores, and the results. Obviously we think it's the best way!

It is the right of the parent to raise their child as they see fit. It is the responsibility of the parent to get as much information about how they do this as they can before deciding on a course of action. This blog is another drop in the ocean of such information.

A plea also: please do interact with this blog, but try to be constructive, never be abusive of anyone, however strongly you disagree with them, and if you make assertions, please reference them as well as you can. A lot of our choices in how we raise our children are based on lots of research and reading and discussion and experience (props to my DW Roxy who should have a t-shirt made with the slogan "Born to Research!" Hopefully the time and effort will come across in the posts as well as being evident in the future lives of our children!

I hope that, should anyone discover and comment on this blog, it will be a learning experience for me too. If it proves a popular way for people to combine their knowledge and experience, maybe I'll start a Wiki!


Jem