The other day a friend recommended yet another parenting book to read. It occurred to me that I could spend so much time reading these books on parenting that I would have no time to actually parent. At some point you have to listen to your own instincts and follow your children’s lead. There are some things you just cannot learn in a book. And those things you learn through experience. Real life experience. If I read every book on parenting that someone told me “I had to read” I would be reading all day long and doing very little parenting. I had to take the pressure off myself and realize I can’t read every book and know ever fact and trick. At some point I had to dive in and just parent. The book provides a safety net “I did what the book said” but no person or book knows everything.
Every child and parent is 100% unique. And only through trying can you learn what to do. Of course books are helpful and some have saved me. But at some point you have to take off the water wings and just dive in.