Why a Blog

I'm a perfectionist - I admit it.  When I was preparing for the birth of my first child, I wanted to be the perfect mother.  During my quest I read What to Expect When You're Expecting, Your Pregnancy Week by Week, On Becoming Babywise and just about any other pregnancy/parenting related books that were recommended by anyone and everyone.

I discovered many pregnant women focused their fears on the aches and pains of pregnancy - the length of labor, the pain of contractions, the administering of epidurals, etc.  I focused on "life after labor" - being the perfect mother to a perfect angel.  In my view, the weight of the world was literally on my shoulders - being ultimately responsible for a baby and raising them to be independent, positive, confident, happy, healthy, etc. was huge!

I became a big "googler".  I started googling EVERYTHING.  Any time I found conflicting information in books, articles, advice from people, I would search the topic on google to get perspectives from other sources.

Sometimes my searching would net a conclusive answer or guidance for my parenting dilemma of the moment.  More often than not my search netted more questions and more confusion.  Most of the time I would take all the information I gathered and build my own answers and guidance.

I quickly realized most of the parenting information on the Internet is polarizing - pitting "stay at home" ideals against "working parent" needs.  Since many people are not able to take the time to research and synthesize the information they gather, they muddle through doing the best they can.  By writing down some of my own research based insights and experiences, I hope this blog helps parents - who work outside the home, inside the home, and any where else - reach confident and beneficial parenting decisions.