Lesson 3: Follow some advice but make your own decisions

Before the baby arrived, as you know, I read many books and articles and I listened to other mums and dads, but one article that really stuck into my head was this one: Why French Parents Are Superior

After reading it carefully, I realised that it was my kind of parenting: playing with your children but teaching them independence, allowing them to enjoy with the parents but having some manners and discipline.
I thought long about it and I decided to combine it with some others old ones. Like not having them constantly on your lap or move them to their own bed as soon as possible. So far, I cannot say that I have succeeded or failed, but here are some of my techniques for achieving it:

• Use the bouncy chair from the day 2 for doing home tasks while he was not sleeping. - It allows you some time for doing what you usually did before and gets him used of being on his own little by little.
• Allow him to spend long periods of time playing on his own at the gym or the high chair.- Stimulation on his own and independence, just what we wanted!
• Move him out of the parents bedroom once the night breastfeeding stopped. - Most of the times the parents are the ones who are wakening up the baby in the middle of the night and getting back your own bedroom feels weird but nice.
• Ensure that other people hold him and encourage his smiles and interaction while doing it. - Sociability is a good skill and I think it reduces the separation anxiety...
• Explain what is going to happen every time I need to change his nappy, his clothes  feed him or getting him to sleep. - Be respectful to him and he will be respectful to you (or that's the idea)
• Encourage him to fall sleep on his own with different techniques. - Again, independence!!!

Some of these techniques were severely criticised but I had already discussed them with my husband and we were sure of what we wanted. After all, we are his parents and we supposedly know best.