My way or the highway

I got a really nice compliment from a friend the other week. She and I talk often on the phone, and I notice that she's often shouting this or that at one of the kiddos that's running around at her feet. She and I have completely different styles on parenting...well and pretty much everything else too. To give a few examples, I was hoping for a drug free home birth with babyjama, whereas she says bring on the drugs. I am still breastfeeding at nearly 19 months with babyjama, and she has bottlefed all three of hers. I've been recycling since before I could walk, and a couple of months ago they started recycling aluminum cans...you get the picture.

So I was really surprised when she said that she had started doing something "my way". She has a theory about how the bad always influences the good and never vice versa, but on this particular day, she said that one of my habits had rubbed off on her and she thought it was a great thing.

She said that she noticed that I always calmly explain to babyjama when she's doing something that is off limits, or dangerous, or whatever. She said that she had always just yelled at her kids to stop what they were doing (especially the toddler), and that she has now started just talking to him instead and "it is working". It's honestly one of the nicest compliments that I've ever gotten, and I'm so happy for her and her family that it's helping. I work so hard at not being judgmental of other lifestyles and parenting (which isn't always easy), and I'm really glad to see that that has paid off.