Hello! Thank you for coming to visit me here at Parenting on a Rollercoaster! If you’re here, I’m guessing you have questions about raising your children or about child development. Maybe your kid has some crazy habit that you wonder “can anyone else in the world be dealing with this??” Or maybe you’re a nanny and don’t want your employers to know exactly how little you know about children so you came here for some insights. Or perhaps you’re a new parent who is worried that your precious baby isn’t developing quite right or is doing something strange. As a parent myself, I have a profound sympathy for the plight of parents/caregivers everywhere who are doing their best to raise their children in a busy world-uncertain if they’re “doing it right” or not.
And our children themselves aren’t exactly making it easy for us to tell if we’re “doing it right”. Kids can do some pretty weird stuff! Their development–and your sense of “getting it right”–is a far cry from a linear path. It’s a bumpy, twisty path, much like a rollercoaster.
Many milestones that children pass through can feel bizarre, alarming or overwhelming to their parents. Some developmental stages can be straight up annoying and make you crazy–and almost every parent will be able to sympathize with you! Still yet, children can have their own funky personal quirks that keep you up at night yet fall completely in the “that’s nothing to worry” about range.
Throughout history, as a general rule, parents have raised their families close to extended family members, their villages, their elders and grandparents. There was always someone with the wisdom and experience very close by who could guide the new parents through the highs and lows and resulting concerns of child-rearing. There was always someone to pat their hands and say “that’s just what two year olds do, honey. No need to fret.”
Now-a-days, many of us aren’t so lucky. The world is moving around us so fast. We don’t have the time to deeply research each of our worries or frustrations as our kids change so rapidly. Extended families are smaller and often further apart. Our parents might not feel qualified to guide us. Or we don’t have access to friends with children with whom we can bounce experiences off of. For whatever reason, this rollercoaster ride of parenting can leave us exhausted and disoriented instead of exhilarated.
And that’s not how it should be.
We should be able to relish life with our babies and children and feel at least marginally confident in their development and our skills at parenting.
I want to help you achieve that goal.
The purpose of this blog is to:
- help you know what ordinary development looks like across a variety of developmental domains such as feeding, speech and language, physical development, and so on;
- discuss behaviors and development that might seem troubling and/or annoying but are never-the-less expected milestones; and
- help calm worries and provide some direction for how to cope with the crazies or move your child onto the next step of development.
Join me as we all tackle this wild ride called parenting. There are ups and downs, unexpected drops, thrilling views, exhilarating rushes of adrenaline and it’s always worth it in the end.
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