Motherhood: No Manual Required

I was about to start this post off with.."As a new Mother" but my kid is 3 now and the baby powder smell has worn off. So, I will start it this way...

Darin's 1st Birthday	Darin's 2nd Birthday	Darin's 3rd Birthday

As a first time Mother (better right) I'm still amazed at all the milestones big and small my son has made in 3 short years. As with all children somethings came easily to him. Sitting up, rolling, walking... he loves to move. Some things we had to wait for like getting rid of his pacifier. But true to form when he was tired of it he just stopped. Some things we are working on like potty training. Needless to say after you have a baby it's not like they give you a manual on how to raise your child.

Please don't think this post is a "how-to" so much as it is a "if it works for you..." There are a number of "guides" that tell you how to raise your child but once you get past Dr. Spock and the Bible what is there?
There is in a word "you"! Being good parents draws from your experience with your own parents (whether biological, adopted, or relative). These folks were, in most cases, role models for the parents you would either want to or not want to become.

Example: I want to be the best Mother to my son like my Mom was to me... She always made time for me. Even if she was working or in the later years not feeling well. She was always there.... and so I know for Darin I will strive to always be there. The down side would be my Father, who is naturally loud, but once you get him riled would sometimes shake the walls with his voice. I remember most of my adolescence avoiding him because of it. So, though I do have to raise my voice to Darin sometimes, I try to go back and explain why I yelled. I do that in hopes that he will not fear me and that he understands the reason for my loud tone because I want  him to feel comfortable coming to me later on in life with any issues that arise.

We draw from our experiences to be, hopefully, better parents. Just think, our parents didn't have a manual, their parents neither, so on and so forth. So, you do the best you can with what you have, and if you do not have then you do what you know in your heart is best. You have been blessed with a tiny miracle who is counting on you to nurture them. Teach them, raise them, help them become awesome human beings. Thinking about it can make you feel overwhelmed. Worry not, you have it covered, draw from what you know.