Unsolicited Advice

Today I'm doing one of Mama Kat's writing prompts: List 10 things you wish you could say to strangers who share unsolicited advice about your parenting skills. Luckily, I haven't had too much of this, but enough to give it a go! Here they are from the least to the greatest:

10. Thank you for your advice, but we have chosen to do things differently.

9. I do have the internet and I do read. Yes, I know many techniques for raising a child. In fact, I know everything you just told me.

8. Yes, she can eat that. One Popsicle isn't going to kill her.

7. TV: I know they say not to watch it until 2, but those 30 minutes of Sid the Science Kid get me through the morning. And for some reason I don't think she'll go brain dead because of it.

6. Please don't assume that I have chosen the discipline techniques you have chosen and that my discipline techniques are doomed to fail.

5. Additionally, my daughter is a work in progress. She's not a machine that I can program. Did you learn self-control in a day? I didn't think so.

4. I'm so glad your children are perfect. Can I live a week at your house to observe the lack of tantrums and your impeccable parenting?

3. Did you know that I have spent all day with an unhappy baby who refused to eat lunch and threw it all over the floor and still managed to get to the grocery store? No? Well, maybe now you understand why this is not the right time to give me advice.

2. I so wish I could hook up your brain to mine and make you relive the past year and a half. You'd actually get to see what my life is all about and who my little girl is rather than making snap judgments about what I need to know as a mom.

1. My child is not your child. What worked with your child may not work with my child and, believe it or not, I do know my child better than you do, after all, I birthed her, spend practically every day with her and pray for her daily. So, I actually do have an idea of what I am doing, thank you.