QUESTION AND ANSWERS

Best parenting advice for Shannon Malone Kopacz, “Let them be.” (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)

As a parent, what’s the best advice you ever received?

• Corinne Shaw writes:  You will make mistakes… breathe… explain and forgive yourself.
• Teresa Barents Van Bramer writes: Take the time to enjoy them when they are little because they grow up so fast. I wish I had listened.
• Kett Lawrence writes:  Trust your gut.
• Jessica Day writes:  Teach your children to be kind, gentle, and friendly. (My dad tells my girls this all the time…I love it.)
• Mark Pollard writes: Buy yourself a bottle of vodka.
• Sally Campbell Galman writes: Don’t worry about doing great things. Just pat yourself on the back at the end of the day if the children are still happy, alive and in one piece.
• Sandy Soderberg writes: Early on it was sleep when the baby sleeps. Now – Bigger kids, Bigger Problems. Both are true.
• Gayle White writes: She will eat when she is hungry and stop when she is full.
• Shannon Malone Kopacz writes: Let them be.
• Jude McGowan writes: Not to listen to ANY advice, but to trust your instincts!
• Tamara Sharples Zayas writes: To think each problem or irritating behavior through instead of just getting annoyed and come up with a consistent, flexible plan. If it doesn’t work, don’t get frustrated, just try something else.
• Jennifer Scalise writes: This too shall pass…(talking about phases kids go through)
• Tonya Lemos ‎writes: Take the time to make your own meals. Don’t eat your kids left overs or else you will start feeling like left overs!!
• Susan Rees ‎writes: “Be nice to your child, then s/he will be nice”. Worked!
• Anthony Mateus writes: A 3yr old is just a 2yr old with practice.
• Jennifer Shiao Page writes: Do what works for you (i.e. your family) until it stops working.
• Robin Sidel writes: Small children, small problems…
• Amanda Saklad writes: ‎”You are the boss, not your child”

Share the best parenting advice you ever received too.