This Isn't My First Time

One frustration all parents can identify with is being treated as if you don’t know what’s best for your own child. No matter your age, or gender, or how much experience you have, well-meaning but annoying people, friends and strangers alike, will weigh in with unsolicited opinions. This happens to all parents but sometimes it feels more personal than others. When Keilana was born, I already had a college degree and years of childcare experience, but looked much younger than my twenty-one years. At one point the nurse came in and, speaking loudly and slowly (as if I were both stupid and deaf), she asked, “Do…you…know…how…to…hold…the…baby?” Pantomiming baby-holding the whole time. Good grief. Right before Connor turned one, I took him to the pediatrician three days in a row with a raging fever that scared me silly. Theories were proposed, some more dire than others, but nothing definitive was suggested. On the fourth day, his fever broke and he was covered in a red, spotty rash. I looked up his symptoms and discovered he had Roseola--an extremely common illness never mentioned in any of my visits. The doctor’s office called to see if I was coming in again and I told them it was taken care of. The nurse sniffed and harumphed at my impertinence, but I knew better. Being Scarlett’s primary caretaker, Nick is especially sensitive to patronizing advice. I refer him to Nadine Bernard Westcott’s adaptation of The Lady With The Alligator Purse. Even experts don’t know everything.

http://www.amazon.com/Alligator-Purse-Nadine-Bernard-Westcott/dp/0316930741

http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/HarperChildrens/Kids/AuthorsAndIllustrators/ContributorDetail.aspx?CId=12879