I was shocked when I came to my blog one day to find a slew of negative comments. They all came from one person and they were so forcefully negative. They were patronizing and aggressive. I was quite taken aback. You see, I had started my blog as a place to save my “stock” answers I got from other moms who had babies born the same time Kaitlyn was born. I had searched it out looking for some advice for my reflux baby with Babywise, but soon found I was the one with experience. I answered a lot of questions, and you may have noticed the same few questions are always asked by new moms (and that’s okay! We were all that new mom once).
To save time, I posted my answers on a blog.
I didn’t look at it much for a couple of weeks and came back very surprised to see someone had found me out and went to town with the negativity.
I decided right then that this blog was going to be more than just a place to help the 20 or so moms I was interacting with in this group. This person pushed me right into making this blog a place a Babywise mom could come and find answers. Somewhere she could find encouragement. Somewhere she could get support and help.
I knew that all of those things were lacking on the Internet at the time. I knew what came up if you searched “Babywise”–and not one bit on the first page was positive. But I also knew that the fruits of Babywise were positive. I also knew there were moms out there who were successfully applying the principles and living happy lives with their families. I knew they were kind and loving mothers, despite what the search results would tell you of such people as would dare try to use Babywise.
So I dedicated a fair amount of time to create this resource, and I continue to dedicate a fair amount of time 8.5 years later. Now when you search for Babywise, I should be at the top or toward the top of what you find. There are positive resources on the Internet!
Many of you won’t know how far things have come. There was a day that moms did not dare admit they did Babwise because of the lashing they would get. Look what happened to me! There are people who dedicate time to seeking out public Babywise moms and tear them down on contact.
Fortunately, I am not one to be bullied. I am a confident person and I knew what I was doing was working and that it had improved our lives immeasurably. How unfortunate that a mom who was seeking help would be scared off of something like this before even knowing what it is about. I wasn’t going to let that be the only voice out there. I would let my voice be heard loud and proud.
As time has passed, more moms have stepped out and been willing to be a voice. As a whole, we Babywise moms don’t tend to be pushy. We tend to be the type who have no problem with other parents parenting their own way. That doesn’t bother us. What does bother us is being criticized for parenting our own ways.
Don’t be fooled. While Babywise parents have Babywise as a common link among us, we have many differences. Some vaccine. Some don’t. Do you know what is crazier than that? We can talk about that topic in a group of Babywise moms and the conversation remains civilized. We talk about
circumcision, birth plans, and homeschooling all without name-calling or tempers rising.
That is the kind of parent who tends to be drawn to do Babywise. We let people govern themselves.
The downside to that is that we also tend to be quiet about our parenting style. People can compliment us and we just offer a small smile. We can see a friend bashing Babywise on Facebook and scroll on by. We can feel afraid to offer our own experience because we worry about the backlash we will get from our friends online.
Each year, in an effort to provide more positive stories out there, I do a Babywise Success Stories Week. I do this in July. I ask you, the readers, to provide me with success stories to share on this blog throughout the week. It can be as short as a paragraph, or as long as a blog post. It can be about Babywise in general or some specific aspect of Babywise.
My hope is that as we provide these stories, parents who are wondering what Babywise is all about can find these stories and see that there are parents who use it and love it. Those parents are loving, normal parents. If Babywise is something that makes sense to them, they can move forward in using it with confidence.
To share your story, please email it to me at [email protected]. Follow these steps:
- Put “Babywise Success Story” in the subject of your email. This helps make sure it doesn’t get sent to my spam folder.
- Tell me the title of your article. If you do not include a title, I will title it for you.
- Tell me how you want to be identified (for example, I could be identified as “Valerie,” “Valerie Plowman,” “Val,” “V. Plowman”–whatever you want).
- It would be fun to know the number of children you have and their ages.
- Type or paste your article into the email. Please no attachments.
- You can include an image for your article. Just send me the image URL for it–again no attachments. If you right click on an image, you can choose “copy image URL.” You can also often just copy a picture online and paste it into an email.
- You may also include a link to your website if desired, but any questionable website links will not be posted (just had to include that).
You can start sending your article any time starting now! I don’t have a firm deadline, but you have at least until July 11 for sure. I will respond to you once I have it scheduled and let you know what day and time you can expect to see it up.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Follow this link to see previously shared success stories.
I might not have started this blog with the intention to take it where it is, but I am absolutely thrilled to be able to play a small part in helping parents be the best parents they can be. Babywise did that for me, and I am happy to pay it forward and do that for other parents. I hope you will contribute to the positive voices and help me create a successful #BabywiseSuccess week!