Things you say/said you'd never do if you had a child

alysie89

What are all those things you said you'd never do when you had a child? I know I've   looked at something other parents were doing and thought "I won't do that with my kid!" 

Mine  is  I said I'd never use one of those backpack  leashes  for  my kid. Now that I have #3 on the way and one of my kids is a runner I'm seriously  considering it!

cd92007

I swore I would never give my kid the iPad. But now he plays (educational!) apps while I put my makeup on in the morning before work... Oh well!

Koalamomma3

When I was a teen I babysat for a family who was super particular about what their kids ate. All organic and never ever McDonald's. I promised myself not to be such a freak about what my kids eat. I am probably worse than they were . I am really a terrible control freak about it now. Like, I send them with food when they stay all night with my mom or their cousins. Ugh, yep I am that mom.

ignoscemihi

I swore I wouldn't let my son view screens before two.  He's 22 months and he watches Daniel Tiger on the iPad while I make dinner every weekday.  Oops.

SuperNerd42

Um yeah, I think it's natural for this to happen though. My biggest fails have been screen time and fast food. Fast food less so because it rarely appeals to me, but if time is tight and the kid is squirrelly I know McNuggets can save the day. Screen time stays pretty educational, but definitely happens. 

midwestmom12

Sleeping in bed with us and not being those parents that leave a horrific mess under the high chairs at restaurants...yeah, I've ate so many words since having a baby!!

alysie89

I said I'd limit junk food and promote  healthy food choices.
we walked to the beach to pick oysters  today and took them home to roast on a fire. My kids decided they preferred  chips. I let them eat chips. Meh, can't win them all.

krzyriver

I never thought I would be real strict. Rules, yes. Consequences, yes. But I never thought I would be considered strict. But I'm actually very strict with my 15 year old. So now I hope that I *am* strict when this one is older because I don't want my son to think I go easier on the baby because the baby is my biological child. 

sparklegrump

We said no toys with batteries. Hahahahahaaa!

jrmint427

We said our child would not sleep in bed with us, but we've gotten in the habit of letting her when she wakes up in the middle of the night because we all get more sleep that way.  I'll do about anything for more sleep.

_darth

No cream of wheat and no Santa. I don't see myself changing my mind. 

JamieK1882

You'll love this one...I said if I had a baby girl she would not wear pants and only wear dresses and skirts. In her 15 months of life I can say she has only had on pants twice!

itravelsize

my big one is babying them when they have a small tumble. I don't want my kid to be the one who burst into tears every time they fall. Of course if they are hurt its a different story we will see if this turns out I can see me wanting to be super mom and wanting to fix everything. But I want my child to be able to fall dust it off and keep going not just break down every time. 

br0co1ii

I don't want my kid to realize a song or video can be repeated. I don't have the patience to hear the same episode of Dora, or Frozen 1000 times. The longer I can hide the fact that that's even possible, the better. 

alysie89

@itravelsize  I always ask my 3rd old if she hurt the ground(or whatever she fell on) when she fell. It usually shocks/confuses her enough that she giggles a bit.

veetveet

Zero sugar.... EVER!   yeah ok.  

lmno304

Not letting my kid wander off in a store "to find the toy aisle." I work retail so everything about it screams "I'm gonna have to clean that up later." And i pride myself on being the kind of shopper i wish i had. I guess we'll see...

klv

I swore my baby would never sleep in my bed. Ha!  I had the infant who would not sleep for more than 43 seconds unless she was on my chest for the first 6 weeks of her life. 

She is 4 1/2 and will sometimes come sleep with us on the weekend in the mornings. Otherwise she goes to watch netflix on my iPad. 

von1976

I said I'd never drive a minivan or an suv. I've never liked them and prefer my sedan. I don't think it'll be too hard to hold out until we have multiple kids, though. So I don't see that changing anytime soon. 

itravelsize

@alysie89 that's funny I might steal that 

runningmama14

Ditto on the no bed sharing. I wasn't against it for other people, I just always said it wasn't for me. I said it right up until I had a kid who wouldn't sleep unless he was touching me. Now we are discussing the logistics of bed sharing with a toddler and newborn...

nlane0723

No cosleeping, BF until 1, no iPad or TV, organic everything, RF until two.

The only one I actually accomplished was RF until two. And I'm totally okay with it.

smmatt08

I refuse to consume any sort of artificial sweeteners, won't let DH have any, and will NEVER let my child(ren) have them. Don't foresee that ever changing! 

I've also always said no co-sleeping, no minivan, and no cell phones before they're 18. FTM here so stay tuned...

evilgreencows5

I said I would never have a kid that threw tantrums in a store and that I would never give them my phone/tablet while we were out just to keep them calm. Just last night I had to chase my almost 3 year old to the back of Walmart and then have him scream the whole way back to the front and he gets my phone on a regular while we're out. 

sweetlyuntied

Ohhhh so many. Big plastic toys. Oops. Sleeping in our bed. Oops. Screen time we're still pretty good on but she definitely watched some Elmo videos the last time we flew! And she loves looking at pictures of herself
on my phone!

rebeccuh

I don't want to buy/own lots of kids movies, and I want to limit branded clothes and toys as much as possible. It weirds me out to see infants* watching tv as part of their "calm down before bed" routines, or to see tiny little kids in what's basically advertising. Mostly the movies thing. We didn't really see kids movies when I was little, probably because my parents had no desire to sit through them. I mean we did if they were on TV every now and then, or sometimes if we rented movies, but tapes of Sleeping Beauty or whatever were something the "spoiled kids down the block" had.  We had books and storytime instead. (Until The Little Mermaid came out. Then you'd better believe I got that shit on tape. But I was old by then.)

Anyway, we'll see how long this all lasts, if at all. 


*Happened with some babes in the family, and it was weird to see kids transfixed by tv before they were even 1.

agogo1

I said a lot of things. No co-sleeping, no screen time until at least 2 (and very limited after that), no minivan, RF until as close to 4 as possible, all natural birth, BF until at least 1...

Life happens. I've stuck to some of these--still minivanless, RF, no screen time (although we do watch "our" shows but baby does not pay any attention at all, barely glances at the screen for now anyway). I ended up really sick and needed surgery a few weeks after she was born, which was a death sentence for an unmedicated birth and exclusively BF. I was way too hard on myself. Baby is happy and healthy, and so am I. That's all that matters.

And as for co-sleeping...we gave in to baby in the bed when she was a few month old. I actually enjoy it so much and now it makes me so sad that co-sleeping/bed sharing is so villainized in Western culture. While she is little, it keeps us sane, we all get more sleep, and I get to see her sweet sleeping face every night and her silly morning stretches and smiles in a way that I would miss if she were down the hall. This time is fleeting and special. Does co-sleeping/bed sharing need to be done safely--absolutely yes. But it is a natural thing and not something that anyone should make you feel guilty about. I will admit that we DID upgrade to a king sized bed a couple of months after she started sleeping with us, but it was a necessary and worthwhile investment. Baby sleeps in a Dock-A-Tot (pricey but one of my best baby purchases) between us, so she's protected and sort of has her own space in the bed. It's great. Anyyyyway...stepping off of my soapbox now.