to our pediatrician. Almost every visit. Because I have an approach to kid raising that is different than theirs.
Every well visit they ask me if my house is baby proofed. I say yes. because to me it is. But then they go on asking specific things like "are all your medicines put up" Yes, they are. "Are your cleaners locked away?" yes, they are. "Do you have baby gates" yes- ok, actually, we don't need any here. "Do you have outlet covers in?" Yes. Ok, that's where I lie. See, I have a problem with outlet covers. First of all, they annoy me. They are hard to get out when you need to use the outlet. But the biggest reason we don't have them is because I think they are stupid. Let me just say, if we adopted a kid, or had a kid who didn't have the same reasoning ability or anything like that I would put them in. But here is our approach to baby proofing.
I tell the kids not to touch the outlets. I tell them not to touch medicine, I tell them not to touch cleaners. Yes, we still put cleaners and medicine out of their reach. But I don't put plastic covers on my outlets. My thinking is if my kids always saw outlet covers in the outlets and we went to someone's house who didn't have outlet covers, they'd be more prone to put something in them, thinking there is supposed to be something there. I guess I think we'd be lazy and not tell our kids that it's dangerous to play with outlets if we had covers in them. If they are open I know I will make sure to tell them. Like when I walk out of my room from putting Josiah to sleep and see caylee trying to put a screw driver in one. Yah, that gets a "Caylee, those will hurt you bad, you NEVER put anything in an outlet."
I know there is no way to keep all bad things away from my kids, and there is no way to warn them about every dangerous or bad thing that will cross their path in their life. I wish there was. I am trying to do the best that I can, and hope that when those things are placed in front of them they will know enough to either ask first, or just say no. Who knows if they will be offered ecigarettes or worse, or when they might find themselves alone wanting to cross the street. (yes, I know crossing the street and having outlet covers are a lot different, but you get the point)
Lego Advent calendar
3 years ago
3 comments:
I'm thankful I don't have to lie to our pediatrician. She just... doesn't ask. Maybe it's because she's a family doctor, so doesn't know all the 'pediatrician-type' questions to ask, maybe it's because she's more laid back.
We chose her specifically because, when I interviewed her, she had the philosophy "You're the parents. You make the decisions for your child. I'm just here to let you know the official recommendations." She doesn't give parenting advice, and she just asks us how he's sleeping, how he's eating (which, is usually obvious, if he's growing fine), if he's hitting developmental milestones, and if we have any questions. That's it. I was prepared to lie to her about WHERE he was sleeping (as I do to others), but she hasn't asked.
Yah, I lie about where he sleeps too. Kinda. Because I have told her that I have one side of his crib off and the crib pushed up against our bed. He sleeps there. Until he wakes up to eat, then he ends up in our bed. The past few nights he's rolled his way into our bed by himself at some point but didn't wake up to eat. Last time we went in she was telling me I needed to roll him onto his back if he rolls himself onto his stomach while he's sleeping. I just stared at her. He normally sleeps on his side but twisted so his belly is on the bed. I tried explaining it and she looked at me like I was a liar. Until she tried to check his ears and he laid like that. Then she was like "oh my gosh! I've never seen a kid do that before! I see how he can sleep like that now." Oh well. Sounds like you've got a good doctor!
Yeah, I try to get Elliott to sleep on his side or his back, but, fun fact! 90% of SIDS deaths are before 6 months, so I feel better that we're out of the 'danger zone' and don't worry much anymore.
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