Or maybe "baby coaches"?
I would gladly pay a "professional" to be my mom coach - someone who could guide me through motherhood. Advise me how to get baby DD to sleep better and effective discipline/boundary settings for pre-schooler DS.
I'm serious.
I know there are a million books to read, but I don't have time with work and wanting to actually spend time with my kids and DH.
I actually googled trying to find someone. Why can I find a million people who can help me train my dogs but not a soul to help me learn to be the best parent I can?
Honestly, at the end of the day, I'm not a natural at this, surely some women are and could a) make a nice living and b) help a sister out....
ugh.
Also I have a cold, DD is going through a growth spurt (I HOPE, otherwise I'm hosed) and I am drowning in Xmas. Good times.
Re: Why aren't there "Mom coaches?"
I am seriously going to talk to DH about this tonight. It would be remote - email/phone/skype - but I think it could help...... ??
And I feel like I could've written this ... The discipline part is so hard for me. I feel like I'm creating a monster though
I did see on some reality tv show a rich couple hiring a baby sleep consultant. Of course, that was in LA so I'm not sure that service is widely available elsewhere.
Kelly, Mom to Christopher Shannon 9.27.06, Catherine Quinn 2.24.09, Trey Barton lost on 12.28.09, Therese Barton lost on 6.10.10, Joseph Sullivan 7.23.11, and our latest, Victoria Maren 11.15.12
Secondary infertility success with IVF, then two losses, one at 14 weeks and one at 10 weeks, then success with IUI and then just pure, crazy luck. Expecting our fifth in May as the result of a FET.
This Cluttered Life
We have had people who only qualify for one visit (anyone who asks qualifies for one visit) or who feel like they don't need non profit services day they'd love to pay for the service, but our agency isn't set up for it. I'd love to see someone try it as a business but having administrated the services, I can say that it would be a huge amount of work - at least 60-80hrs a week for one person to get it off the ground. But that's any new small business.
Parents as Teachers provides prenatal care and then can help with parenting stuff and they're all over the country, but I know their programs vary a lot in terms of who gets services (they have a lot of sleep info and potty training tools in addition to the read to your baby stuff they're known for).
I don't think there is ONE person who can be an expert in everything having to do with child rearing but I think we can build a pool of resources that we can turn to within our community. Mine consists of our pediatrician, the lactation consultant who lead our weekly support classes (I attended these while on maternity leave), DD's teachers who are very experienced at dealing with behavioral issues and always willing to offer advice and support, and finally my friends and family...as well as the moms on this board!
When I had questions about DD's sleep I asked our pedi for advice as well as asked my lactation consultant if she had a referral (she did!). And I find that I learn a lot of tricks by observing DD's grandmothers as well as my mom friends. I have asked them many times how they have handled a certain situation.
I am not a natural when it comes to motherhood. My instincts can only get me so far. I, too, don't have time to read umpteen books, often that will contradict one another. I too need infomration and to learn skills and tools that will making parenting easier. I prefer to get multiple perspective and choose the approach that makes most sense to me than to follow one person's view of the world.
I don't... It is what it is.
I think, though, you miss my point.... I want someone who can help guide me and add perspective to that which I get from pedi etc...
I don't plan on blindly following one person's view of the world. I just want another perspective (like you say you want) but one that's fully informed about a lot of different strategies.
I think of it as someone who can "curate" all the parenting info that's out there and help distill it into something that is acitonable in my life.
And I need a lot more help than a pedi visit.
For clarity: I'm thinking like you hire a personal trainer to help build a diet and fitness plan and coach you through it. Sure, I could read a bunch of books or just ask friends and family what they do, but I don't really have that time and I like the idea of someone who's formally educated about it... If that makes sense?
I have a great network but it's just non mom centric. Only a few of my friends have kids. Most are older. No sisters, no aunts, grandmas have passed on, mom is thousands of miles away, MIL in another country. So the "village" some have, well I don't have it.
It's all good. I know I "outsource" a lot. I like expert strangers perspectives.
Anyway - I've connected with someone at the site my friend told me about and I'm super excited to have a pro there to coach me.