A Short Thought on Parental Paranoia

American parents display a powerful thirst for the newest parenting trend, advice,or tactics.  There is always a new book or article to feed them, informing them that some other parents (or doctors or psychologists or anthropologists) hold the key to perfect parenting happiness. Even those proclaiming they have found the magic decoder ring of childhood bliss seem to be talking loudly to cover their secret paranoia. Whether they look to "Tiger mothers", laid-back Parisian Mamans, or some hipper blogging mom, everyone seems to be afraid that someone else is doing it better.

I sincerely believe that most people who rush after each parenting fad and hungrily read each advice column are not just trying to be hip; they truly want to raise their children the best way.  And yet it seems to me that an addiction to the latest method, or any method, is not how happy families are made.  The reason certain cultures may seem to grasp effective child-rearing methods probably has something to do with the fact that those so-called "methods" are just the organic way generations have passed down the knowledge of how children will flourish in their particular culture and family. For thousands of years, happy families got by with no parental rule book but inherited wisdom and satisfied themselves with doing the best flawed humans could with the help of God.  Today we are so busy looking somewhere else to figure out how to raise the "perfect family," we can lose the beautiful individuality of the human souls God has given to our care.

I am no expert, but advice on parenting, like advice on love, seems helpful only in the most universal and most practical varieties.  I wish more writers of the "advice" variety would stick to truths like "do everything with love" and "never trust a baby with your camera."

Today is: The Feast of St. Bernadette of Lourdes (my confirmation saint!)
Finn is: Nine Months and Two Days Old
Mama is Reading: No One is Here Except All of Us by Ramona Ausubel