When you become a parent, your world changes forever. You go from becoming your own number one priority, to having this tiny life in your hands that you would put before anything else. So of course, you want to do what’s right by your baby and ensure that you’re making the very best decisions. The thing is, there really is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ with many of these things, it’s all down to your personal choices and situation. But if you’re expecting a baby, it’s worth spending some time considering the following things so you have an idea where you stand on them.
Bottle or breast feed?
One of the very first big decisions you’ll need to make when your baby arrives is whether you’ll breast or bottle feed them. The best advice to bear in mind here is that it’s good to be open minded. If you’re set on making breastfeeding work, it can be upsetting if for whatever reason it doesn’t work out for you. But you might also feel like you’re keen to bottle feed and then change your mind when they arrive. Go into things knowing that you’ll be happy either way, when it comes down to it as long as your baby is being fed then that’s the most important thing.
Home school or regular school?
There are so many pros and cons to both regular and homeschooling. At a standard school your child gets the benefit of mixing with lots of different children, learning from different teachers and generally learning how society expects them to behave- the very strict school times and days prepare them for the world of work later on. On the downside, there’s very little one-on-one teaching, kids can ‘slip between the cracks’ where teachers are trying to keep up with all of their students. There can be issues of bullying, and they simply might not learn well using traditional teaching methods. At home, everything can be tailored to your individual child. Do plenty of research before making your decision.
Return to work, or not?
There are lots of factors that come into whether you can (or want to) return to work when your children are small. Perhaps you need the extra money, or maybe you have a career and are keen to get back to it. Maybe childcare costs are too high where you live making it not worth returning, or perhaps you just want to be there 24/7 to raise your child. Again, there’s no wrong answer to this it all depends on your life. Many moms find that working from home is a good compromise as it’s flexible and you can be your own boss. Thanks to companies like Grange Removals you can store documents and other business related things elsewhere so it doesn’t need to take over your home.
Should we have another?
Deciding when you give your child a sibling is another huge decision. As we all know when it comes to having a baby there’s no guarantees and it could take anything from one month to many years or possibly not even happen at all.
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