Originally Posted by nannyde:
When I look back at my sons infancy I don't remember being tired after he was six weeks old. I don't have a single memory of him hitting me because he didn't. I don't remember tantrums or not being able to go places because he acted like a creep in public. I remember his babyness with very fond memories. He was an easy baby because I didn't allow otherwise.
I understand your purpose in starting this thread, and I will be honest, I don't know a lot about what AP is supposed to be. I also want to say, I respect your abilities as a provider, and I believe you do exactly what you claim to do re: getting them all to one place.
However, (and please forgive my lack of tact here) you have one child. You are in no position to judge that you got an "easy" baby because YOU did anything. If I had only one child, I would easily be able to say the same thing. My oldest (number three in the lineup, but the first I gave birth to) was a breeze. Never cried unless there was a real issue. Slept through the night at 3 months. Never had a tantrum. Took him EVERYWHERE. He was an easy kid, and is still a dream kid @26. Mother's dream.
Then the next one came along. Cried from the time he was six weeks old until he was, well.. to be honest, about 5. Not really, but he was HARD. He did NOT want to be carried or even touched. Would scream for hours at a time (four to six often.) Could be set off on a tantrum because a drawer was open that previously was not, and it would go for hours.
As a daycare provider, you might have been able to get him on a schedule, but as a parent, I was trying to survive. Sleep deprived and often on the edge of patience, I did the best I could do.
Of the eight (the two older boys joined the family a bit later) four of them were pretty easy going. If they were the only kids, I might feel pretty smug about how they did as well. The other four have had some interesting moments. Did things in public I was unimpressed with and things that were downright embarrassing.
What I have learned is to stop judging. Sometimes parents suck. Sometimes, they just need help. Sometimes even really good parents who do all the "right" things get kids who are hard and do things they shouldn't. In the end, what our kids become is often more a matter of their own little personalities and who they need or desire to be, and less about anything we have done, right or wrong.