A friend posted an article on Facebook about how important and special it is to co-sleep. Personally, I do not have a strong opinion on co-sleeping as it pertains to other families. If it is important for you to do that, who am I to say that you are wrong? I am all about whatever works best for your entire family.
For my family - in this stage of our lives - it doesn't work for us. Here's why:
1. We have a queen size bed. We have two kids and two adults in the house. I am pregnant and paranoid of my belly getting accidentally kicked. If all four of us are in the bed, it is very uncomfortable. The ones who end up being the most uncomfortable are the adults. My husband works hard and deserves his rest. I deserve my rest as well. If I don't sleep, I get grouchy. If I am grouchy, I'm not a fun mommy. Yes, the kids deserve their rest...even more than that, they deserve nice parents. We're just nicer when we get our sleep, but who isn't?
2. My husband is my life partner. I vowed to God and to him that I would be with him until death does us part. It is my belief that I should put my husband above my children. Sure, I spend MORE time with my kids. Yes, my kids need me to assist them in ways my husband doesn't. We totally believe that it is absolutely fine and absolutely necessary for each parent to spend individual time with the kids. We make this a priority. However, for those reasons and many more, we do not get a lot of time alone together. So our bed is ours. I refuse to sleep away from my spouse just so that I can sleep with my kids. (Of course, there are exceptions. If a child is sick and needs me, or scared and wants one of us to sleep with them for a little while, we do not hesitate. On most nights, at least one child will crawl into our bed when they wake up. Usually, we let them fall back to sleep in our bed and then carry them back to their own bed.) It works for us.
3. I think it's OK for kids to be alone with their thoughts. There are going to be times in their lives when they will be all alone and I want them to not fear that. I want them to embrace those moments and relish in the quiet just as much as I want them to embrace life and cherish the time spent with others. To be clear, my kids are 3 1/2 and almost 5...I am not talking about infants and small children...I don't feel the need to share my thoughts about that stage of life at this time. ;)
Now, I am NOT a parenting expert. I don't have all the answers. I have made my fair share of mistakes along this journey already and know that I will continue to do so. I know there will be one day when I look back at this time and regret how fast time went (considering I have heard from 5,892 parents how fast this time goes, I'm pretty sure that everyone has that regret.) However, I don't need another article telling me why it's so important to do something a certain way and how horrible it will be when this stage is gone.
Disclaimer: I know I could be accused of doing just that in this post. However, I am sure that there are only 3-5 people who even read this blog at all. I am not trying to convince anyone to do anything differently. Instead, I am a hormonal mama who just wanted to get "my side" off my chest. ;) If you do co-sleep, you are awesome. If you don't co-sleep, you are awesome. We are all just doing what we feel is best. Every family, every child is different. I TOTALLY understand that. There is NO judgement here. So, keep up the good work, Mama...however you choose to parent.
The end. ;)
