Expectations

This pediatrician thing has been stuck in my mind. I can't stop thinking about it. Norah can't understand why I'm so bothered by it, there are many people in positions of power with low expectations. Why do his low expectations bother me so much? And then it came to me, the reason it just gnaws at me. It was as if he said,

"Roger and Sara don't have a clue anyway. Why bother to teach them? You can't help everyone so do the minimum, expect nothing and you'll get by."

How can anyone that knows infants and children feel that way?! If caregivers, parents, grandmommies and pop-pops, aunties, uncles, friends, neighbors, nannies, etc, are willing to put in a little extra work followed by consistancy then the benefits are infinate.

The parent or caregiver of an exhausted child gets less alone time which means fewer opportunities to think, reflect and consider their children, actions and large number of possibilities.

The parent or caregiver of a picky eater spends more time worrying about food [how to get the child to eat, whether the child has eaten enough, what if they stop growing?] than about how to have fun, relax and try new things.

Children who get too little sleep get colds more often.
Children who don't get enough fruits and vegetables aren't as prepared to deal with illness as those who do.

The list goes on. So why, WHY would a pediatrician say it doesn't matter? Who cares? Why bother? It is very, very frustrating to me and it's nice to be able to vent about. I apologize for going on and on though.


On the schedule front, we're back to 'Roger and Sara's rule.' Jackson and Tabitha take a bottle before bed because they can't imagine putting them down without food, who cares about their teeth? Breathe Samara. In. Out. We'll change it later. No 5-6pm nap, they can make it, we're expecting too much of them, "they deserve it" is what Sara says.

I'm not sure how long I'm going to last at this job, with Roger and Sara being so inflexible. They are gone 5/7 of the week and want me to do things the lazy, no-forethought way. Which isn't the way that I work. If it's better for Jackson and Tabitha, even if it's harder now, then we should do it the best way.

As a follow up to this post, we're back to napping on blankets around the house. We're definitely having a transition period, but I'm excited about the product and think the benefits far outweigh the short-term re-learning curve.