Which side of the fence are you on?

You know, those fences that somehow go up as soon as your pregnancy test shows positive.  Are you getting an epidural?  How much TV do you think a toddler should watch?  How much time should kids spend playing video games?  (PS – I totally hate the word “should”)

Those questions tend to make me feel trapped, like it’s not really a question but a means by which we are subtly judging other parents.

I’m deciding to take the fences down.  

I’m going to make a conscious decision not to ask those kinds of questions unless I really, genuinely want to know for myself so I can gather information to make my own informed decision.  But do I need to know if you’re getting an epidural?  Probably not.  Sure it seems like making conversation, but that’s one of those things that people seem to be on one side of the fence or the other about.

I’m thinking about the articles I’ve seen on Facebook, the first saying that no children ever should have screen time (that might be a paraphrase), and the second being a rebuttal saying that it’s no biggie (again, paraphrase).  Well…maybe we’re all just doing the best we can, whether that’s zero screen time or hours of it.  And maybe “doing the best” can be good enough and we can just love each other where we’re at.

If there aren’t fences, maybe we can just all hang out together instead of being separated by these personal decisions.  Like a big awesome playground.  I like playgrounds.

You’re doing an awesome job.  Let’s go play.

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