There were so many things I said I would never do as a parent. Oh, how naive I was! As you get into the parenting groove, you learn what intentions and ideals you need to let go of in order to make it through the day. My current parental ideals have trumped, rather stomped on, some of my pre-parental intentions.
TV
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, TV should be avoided until the age of 2. We were diligent in not letting our toddler watch TV. In doing so, however, we learned that he was missing out on some very important experiences. He didn’t have a “character” to bond to. While the children around him were bonding with beloved TV characters like Mickey, Elmo, and Dora, he only had books and toys to learn from. We now allow him to watch Mickey Mouse Club and Sesame Street, and believe it or not, he could take or leave any other TV show. We also learned that there are very educational TV shows out there and I was amazed at what he has learned from watching Sesame Street.
Tablet/phone
We did not allow tablet use, especially out in public. When I see parents allowing a tablet to interact with their child instead of creating meaningful conversations, I cringe. We have only recently allowed our toddler to play specific games on the tablet, educational of course. His knowledge of colors, shapes, numbers, letters, and matching has improved drastically since allowing limited tablet time. Only in severe circumstances will we allow a tablet while we’re eating out or experiencing family time, and in those instances, he will not be babysat by the tablet. There is always someone talking and teaching as he’s playing.
Alcohol
I don’t drink, and I probably have an over-sensitivity to drinking around children, but since having a child, I can see why some parents drink out at dinner (or more, I mean parenting is hard!) We rarely go out without our toddler and sometimes my hubby likes to have a drink. I’ve had to settle myself down in this regard because he and I aren’t going to go out gallivanting very often.
Food
If you were to ask my husband who the pickiest eater on the face of the Earth is, he would hand’s down scream that it was me. While I try to include a lot of variety into my child’s diet (i.e. crap I won’t eat), I learned that I, rather NO human being, can force a child to eat what they don’t want to eat. Being that my toddler is quite skinny, I also have to shovel in the high fat foods that we generally don’t keep in the house.
I think back and chuckle at my good intentions, but really, parenthood is a learn-as-you-go type of endeavor with a lot of trial and error.