The Evolution of Parenting - Changing with the Times and Challenges

In Allison Goines article “Finding Your Parenting Style” available at Associated Content online at:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/36766/finding_your_parenting_style.html, she explores a beginning parent’s quest to find a parenting “style” and comfort level in the new role. I was reminded of my own early attempts to figure out who I was as a new parent all those years ago and realized that parenting turned out to be much more fluid and evolutionary than I every anticipated in those early days! 

As Goines points out, finding a “fit” between parent and child is important, but I believe the challenge is complicated with the arrival of more than one child and the inevitable changes and challenges that evolve over time. Flexibility becomes the key to successful adjustment. More so than adhering to any declared and labeled parenting style. 

In my own experience, just when I thought I had things “down” the entire playing field would shift. Mastering nursing and adjusting to my eldest child’s temperament did not prepare me for the absolutely different adventure of my second, and then my third. In addition to the individuality of each child, the interaction of each of them with each other, as a sibling group, and with the outside world compounded the complexities of the job of parent. Some days, just staying in the game took every ounce of concentration I had! And absolutely nothing prepared me for the onset of adolescence… 

I am sure I am saying nothing original when I say that over time the job of parent becomes less and less about staying within a defined “style” and more and more about creative problem-solving, flexibility and adjustment. While some parents and experts say we should just toss out all those parenting and self-help books and play it by ear - I maintain you should actually hang on to them, you never know when you might need a little help and advice!