Because to be fair, there are plenty of people who raise children without any support at all. And I applaud them, because I don't know how the hell they do it.
But to raise a child on your own with no support AND maintain your sanity? Eh, that's iffy. I know, I have tried both ways and I have learned to depend on my amazing support network, but I barely make it through the day sometimes.
At a minimum, your village needs:
- An Overindulgent Grandparent Figure - Someone to completely spoil the crap out of your child, and give you someone to shake your head at.
- A Group Of Villagers - A.K.A. others who are in similar circumstances with whom you can compare notes with, bitch to, give and get support from, and help you find the humor in the everyday chaos.
- A Trusted Elder - Someone whose advice you trust, whom you can turn to when you are at your wits end and have no friggin clue where to go next.
- An Emergency Contact - Someone that you can call when you haven't showered in days, haven't slept in days, are at your wits end and have recently left the house with baby poop under your nails. Someone that you trust enough to dump your kids on while you retreat to neutral territory until you are a little more human.
- The Village Idiot - An individual whose parenting techniques make you laugh and (sometimes) feel infinitely superior. Yep, it's snarky but it's true.
Today I have turned to my "Villager" girlfriends to bitch when my infant hasn't slept for the third night in a row, my "Overindulgent" parents who came down and partied with my little inmates for the day (and took one inmate with them when they left), and my "Idiot" who I absolutely love but whose advice to get my baby to sleep through the night was to "ditch him in the basement until he figures it out". Yep, it's an approach I have joked about, but she was dead serious.
So who is in your village, and do you love them as much as I love my crazy, nutty little group of townies?
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