tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-764041168151820066.post3440262281406709356..comments2024-03-03T05:15:39.000-05:00Comments on Fodder 4 Fathers: FODDER OF THE WEEK: IS THE PARENTING EXPERT EXPLOSION ERODING YOUR COMMON SENSE?Fodder 4 Fathershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11706710956015686399noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-764041168151820066.post-90748268619301808632011-10-05T17:13:52.963-04:002011-10-05T17:13:52.963-04:00Good thing I don't consider myself an expert! ...Good thing I don't consider myself an expert! I always open up my six-week parenting course making that very point. I don't think there is any such thing as an expert. If you're lucky, you will become an expert for one particular child a few years after that child has flown the coop. Much of what applied to that one will backfire with the other one growing under the same roof! There is just too much diversity when it comes to the human psyche, and the most that "experts" can hope for is to give people a couple more tools to add to their toolbox. Each parent has to choose the right tool at the right time for the right child. <br /><br />Marlaine I completely agree with your comment. "Alignment," where it is deemed a good thing by the wider community, has many interlocking paths leading to it. An amusing point to make here is that even the so-called expert who finds the other experts inaccurate, may also be inaccurate in his statement about experts. We all come from a different standpoint. I don't believe any of them is wrong per-se. I DO believe that if nothing is applicable across the board even in the same household, how can we expect them to be applicable across the entire world, country, or even locality? Yet, we can expand our horizons and learn about what works elsewhere in order to help discover what works for us. Methinks that is the same message underlying Adam's piece. Read, yes. But then analyse,decipher, sift through, hold some, and discard others with no disrespect. If you haven't walked a mile in their shoes, you don't know their standpoint. I call that "informed" common-sense parenting.Rodney C. Davishttp://parentingtodaytips.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-764041168151820066.post-20390571084523265642011-10-05T11:33:28.879-04:002011-10-05T11:33:28.879-04:00Standing O for this Adam! Great topic. Is it worth...Standing O for this Adam! Great topic. Is it worth it? Great response: Trust ourselves. All human beings are hard wired with their own GPS. When we act out of alignment we are miserable, when we act in alignment we thrive - and so do those around us. Catch is humans and their environs are as diverse as plants, so we each achieve "alignment" differently, yet experts write books for everyone - and they're always building better roads. Hello? Good news is we simply need to check our own GPS and make our own correction. As with driving, the right map (or parenting book) can help dramatically. So choose good friends to ride with and be also a good friend to yourself and others. Your readers certainly have this with you. Happy to be one of them! PS Children the Challenge by Rudolph Dreikurs is my personal fav (Decades in print for a reason!) Oak trees live long lives.Marlaine Coverhttp://www.lifeskillsreportcard.comnoreply@blogger.com