Like many parents, when I found out I was pregnant I read all the books I could get my hands on about parenting. I knew what milestones he should hit and when, what I should feed him during each month, what disciplinary style I wanted, that I wanted him on a three-hour feeding schedule and so on. I had basically planned his first two years of life. I had it all figured out...or so I thought.
What the books couldn't tell me is that Caleb would throw up all over everything for the first five weeks of his life due to a problem that required surgery to fix. They couldn't tell me that my child would hit certain milestones early, and other ones late; that barley is great to feed them first, except when your child won't eat it; punishment styles should vary from child to child based on each kid's personality; and a three-hour feeding schedule is great in theory, until your child is hungry an hour after his feeding and it comes down to feed him again or hear him scream for two hours.
There are many things that books can tell you. They can be wonderful references to have on hand, but they can't tell you how life with your child will be. According to books, my children should be on a schedule, a timeout should suffice for punishment, and Heaven forbid they eat a hot dog. Well things aren't always what they should be, and there is no problem with that. Every parent should decide for themselves what is best for their life and their child, not based on what books say, but what they feel is right.
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