Your Own Oxygen Mask Comes First

I had a visit with our family doctor this evening. We’ve been seeing Dr. S since L was born and he is the best doctor I’ve ever known. Being a holistic doctor, I expected him to have a very indulgent philosophy on parenting. I was surprised to hear just the opposite. He explained that after 25 years in practice, he’s seen many families that indulge their children – and the kids are all terrors.

He feels PHAT Daddy and I are on solid ground with our new parenting plan. He also recommended a homeopathic remedy to help the clinginess and social anxiety my children exhibit. I am really excited to try this – a friend of mine had great success with homeopathic remedies with her son. And I love that Dr. S wants to try gentler methods before plunging a 6-year-old into psychotherapy and labeling him for life.

As we spoke about my recent struggles with parenting, his bottom-line recommendation was to care for ME. He said something very profound: “Your children need to see you caring for yourself and valuing yourself, not always pandering to the needs of others and being manipulated. That’s how they learn self-esteem.” Wow, what a concept.