Babywise (Gary Ezzo) - An Article by Katie Allison Granju

[Just Me]

Coming from a place where we are the odd ones out for not using Babywise (Ezzo and his theories are pushed a lot in our church), I appreciate articles like this as it reinforces to me that we are making the right decision for us. I have observed things and had conversations with friends who use it and it is nice to know that other people have noticed these things to about a program such as this.

The conclusion that I have come to though is that I value very different things in parenting my children than what this program promotes. I do not measure how great my parenting is by how well my children sleep through the night at 8 weeks or how quickly they are obedient to me. For some people that is important. To us it is not. I find that because we hold our babies when they cry rather than leaving them to cry it out or because we focus more of the intentions behind the behaviour of our children, rather than the behaviour in isolation, we are often judged as having misbehaved, disobedient and stubborn children by many of our friends who think Ezzo is tops.

For me, it is good to see that not everyone thinks the Ezzo way and to able to discuss it. It is good to read different opinions on his work rather than it just being fantastic. It is also good to have support from other people who don't agree. I am confident in my parenting choices which is why I continue to parent the way I do in the face of so much adversity, but I really do appreciate the support and opportunity to discuss.

Choclatecatty - I get that you may feel marginalised on here for agreeing with Ezzo to a certain degree, but I feel marginalised with many of my friends because I don't agree with him. For me, posts like this are important.

I also think posts like this are important because they challenge people and help them think differently. There are lots of things that people say on BB that I don't agree with or don't like but everything challenges my thinking, it keeps me in check, it makes me think about why I do what I do and I find I am changing the way I am thinking if I don't like the answers that I come up with to the questions that I ask myself. I like the way that my thinking is changing and appreciate my thoughts and opinions being challenged.

Ultimately, I think I am more confident in my parenting choices because I am challenged and stretched. I understand why I do what I do and why I think they way I do. I have learned not to be scared of people disagreeing with me but rather to listen to what they are saying and think about what I am doing. Having said that, everyone needs some level of support for their choices too and it is also nice to find that on BB