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Parenting Trends FOR AN
EASY, BREEZY SUMMER BY PAM MOORE
HILE THE WORLD IS determined to make us believe summer is fun and relaxing, we parents know better. The days are long, which means our kids are up way too late. No school means scheduling camps, playdates, sitters, etc. Then there’s all that sun, which means coercing our kids into putting sunblock on. Yes, summer is hard, but you can make it easier by embracing some hot trends. Maybe you stopped caring about trends when you gave in and bought a minivan. Maybe it happened as soon as you peed on the stick. But trust us, there’s a reason these parenting hacks are hot right now. They save so much work.
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BABYWEARING. The baby snuggles while you keep both hands free. Babywearing means not having to strategize your approach at every doorway or MacGyvering through stairwells with 40 pounds of stroller, baby, and diaper bag slung across your body at awkward angles. Babywearing eliminates those face-prickling, nervous-sweat moments when you’re futzing to unlatch your stroller as your baby wails and the one thing just won’t attach to the other thing and all eyes are on you in an otherwise quiet, public place. If I regret anything in my life, it’s that I didn’t wear my kids more when they were babies. (Exception: the Moby wrap. Wrestling 25 yards worth of cotton with a crying baby on your hip can make anyone weep, particularly a postpartum woman).
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CO-SLEEPING. Co-sleeping could be the best-kept secret of lazy parents. Contrary to popular belief, co-sleeping doesn’t make you an attachment parent, a helicopter parent, or a hippie. It means you are probably sleeping better than everyone else. It means you’re capable of snoring when the kid snuggles up with his center of mass directly over your Adam’s apple. It means you’re a gentle soul who finds the sound of your kid breathing like an overweight octogenarian adorable, even without an Ambien or two. Co-sleeping means never leaving your bed in the middle of the night. I regret not co-sleeping with my kids when they were babies. I also regret that they thought co-sleeping was a slumber party. Specifically, the kind of slumber party where the first girl to fall asleep would wake to find her underpants hidden in the freezer.
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BABY-LED WEANING. Baby-led weaning is fancy way of saying you feed your baby regular food. Instead of spoon-feeding your baby purees that you have to make or buy, you give them soft foods they can eat with their hands. Why did I spend so much time pureeing various combinations of fruits and vegetables, then struggle to simultaneously feed myself, read the paper, and spoon-feed them for hundreds, maybe thousands of meals? I beg forgiveness from the patron saint of judge-y mommies. My sins include (but are not limited to) ignorance and hypocrisy. I scoffed at baby-led weaning. I am
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