Fifth one's a charm
When my fifth child arrived four months ago, something had to give.
I couldn’t obsess over every detail the way I did with my first, such as color coordinating her outfit, socks, bib and bottle, or spending hours researching and test-driving strollers and swings.
Megan has to learn to fall asleep with noise because it’s never not noisy in my house.
She has to be put to bed without a song and a dance, stay in bed and not expect to be picked up at every whimper because I’ve got four others with their own bedtime routines.
The spit-up on her dress will eventually dry and doesn’t require the immediate change of clothes that my firstborn had.
Diapers are super-absorbent and not cheap – so if it’s yellow, I let it mellow.
I really don’t care that my baby swing has a fish pattern, the bouncer is frogs and the play yard is brown plaid. I’m sure I’ll add some other tricks to my repertoire as she gets older.
I’d like to hear what other parenting “shortcuts” readers take that maybe they learned the second, third or even fifth time around.
Our biggest shortcut is a simple rule: No whining allowed. From the time our son was little, we refused to listen to whining. He is allowed to state his opinion or offer an alternative to a plan, punishment, etc., but he must do it in a normal tone of voice. We started when he was just beginning to talk, so he knew from the start, whining would get him nowhere. He soon learned to express himself competently, and we’ve saved tons of time by avoiding arguments.
Our shortcut is “a place for everything and everything in its place”. Organization is our key to running a happy, large family.
When they’re old enough, teach them to do their own laundry. Now that’s a timesaver.
1) Follow the five-second rule with dropped pacifiers, food, etc.
2) The baby doesn’t know if his/her nursery decor is left over from child #2.
I was so concerned with the way my older son was dressed. He always wore coordinated outfits that I carefully chose for him. With son #2, I’m just happy he’s dressed. He chooses most of his outfits (I still get to choose the church clothes on Sunday) and he looks adorable – mismatched and happy!