TuscMoms.com

Check this out. I think we can all relate. Moms confess to the little things they do and the shortcuts they take that might make people judge them a bad parent.

We've talked about these issues before -- leaving your child in a car for a few moments, letting them watch a little TV...when is it considered bad parenting?

One parenting author says these are just a few of the more than 40 things parents are doing wrong (I'm guilty of some, how about you?):

-forgoing tick inspections
-neglecting to wash hands before every meal
-not using a meat thermometer
-not scrubbing fruits and veggies before serving
-sampling cookie dough batter
-failing to keep up on toy recalls
-letting a child eat in the car
-propping a baby bottle

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/23907716/

*I've never propped up a bottle.
*We wash hands before "meals" to establish a good habit, but with a thumb sucker, it's a little pointless.

But, no eating in the car--you gotta be kidding!!!

I'm proud to say that I've never propped a baby bottle & I've always scrubbed fruits and veggies. But I have to admit that handwashing has always been a big problem in our family (for my kids, I mean. But not for me - I'm almost obsessive about it and have the raw, chapped hands to prove it!).
We do eat in the car, though, and have eaten raw cookie dough on occasion. And I'm sure I've done a lot of other horrible things - especially with my eldest!

Oh yeah ... I've broken most of these rules. I consider myself pretty laid back though, and tend to not sweat the small stuff (or at least what I consider the small stuff).

I found myself feeding Ben in his carseat just this weekend. We were travelling, and were on the longest stretch (2 hours) where there was no place to pull over but the shoulder. After 9 hours of driving already, and a flat tire, he woke up starving. I typically plan better, but wasn't expecting the nail in the tire, or the lack of safe-seeming exit areas. So, I fed him a few cheerios and half a jar of food. I also nursed him....yes, in a moving vehicle...without ever loosening his carseat straps. I think my husband was mortified. But, when your baby's hungry, your baby's hungry! Of course I would never make a habit of this, but when I find myself in a situation like that, I just do the best I can. So, I guess I can check that one off your list, Kristi!

MyMcDreamysMama, I've done the nursing in the car thing and managed to perfect so that the baby could be in the carseat and I could stay strapped into my seatbelt also! Somtimes you have to do what you have to do!

Wow...that's talent!

FunnyMummy- I know what you mean about hand washing with a thumb sucker... I was at the mall food court with my in-laws and LO the other day. My LO had been banging on the table and then stuck his hand in his mouth. You should have seen the look on my MIL's face. Yeah, I could have wiped his hands off. But the second I do that, he'll just touch something else and then stick his hand or thumb right back in his mouth again.

MyMcDreamysMama & LawMommy - I've heard of people nursing in the car with the baby in a car seat, and I've never been able to figure out how it's possible. I think I'm to unflexible and uncoordinated to even give that one a try!

Sometimes I wonder how my brothers and I ever made it this far. I wrote in another thread once that my grandmother never refrigerated her mayo (I knew no different until I could read the label).

The cookie dough thing reminds me of one of my grandma's remedies. My youngest brother was SO skinny when he was a toddler. He ate, but was still as skinny as could be. I remember that my grandmother would make him "milk shakes" out of milk, vanilla, sugar and 2 raw eggs--basically "raw" ice cream. She gave them every few days to fatten him up. LOL

My brother never got fat, but he is the tallest/biggest of all my brothers... was it the shakes? I doubt it. But he never got sick from it. As kids, we were hardly EVER sick. And, I don't think any of us have ever had food poisoning! LOL

I am a firm believer in the fact that you can be too clean. Just like your muscles need exercise to become stronger, your immune system needs stumuli to make it stronger.

Some researchers claim that being too clean is responsible for increses in asthma and other diseases.

There are a lot of online articles on it. You can search "too clean" and get a bunch. Here's one that I think is pretty good:

Hygiene Hypothesis: Are We Too "Clean" for Our Own Good?

Others say that antibacterial hand sanitizers are doing more harm than good.

I've read a lot of stories on the over-use of hand sanitizers and the idea that we may be too clean. And if you saw my kitchen floor, you'd say I'm a true believer, too!

Nursing while driving - that IS talent! LOL.
I know someone else who's done that.
We always pulled over. I'm also not coordinated enough for that one. LOL.

But I've fed my LO baby food while driving on trips (my DH was driving). And Cheerios. And puffs.

FunnyMummy - I 100% wholeheartedly agree.

My sister in law is the biggest clean freak I know - to an almost OCD degree if you ask me. And my two nephews are the sickest little boys I know, ALWAYS catching everything.

I really think it's because she is such a fanatic and never lets them have exposure to any germs, so obviously as soon as they come in contact they get sick.

I have a good friend the same way - and her kids are always sick too.

A little dirt never hurt anyone!

Oh, and I have a thumbsucker too (my 4 year old). Yeah, you have to let go of any clean hangups at that point. YOu can only do so much.

To clarify about the car-nursing, I wasn't driving! I was in the back seat, next to the baby, who was in the middle seat rear-facing in the car seat. And I didn't say I didn't have to stretch my seatbelt out a bit (probably not offering maximum protection in a crash for me but I fuigured better than nothing), but I was still buckled up and so was baby.

I am laid back about cleanliness, but my DH is not. He has to sanitize the paci every time it hits the ground. I say as long as we are in our own home, it won't hurt him any more than crawling and then eating does. As my cousin says "God made dirt and dirt don't hurt!" LOL! I don't believe I need to sanitize everything to be healthy. I do sanitize one thing every single time. The grocery cart handle. I caught a stomach bug on maternity leave, and the only place I had been in the previous week was the grocery store. I can see their point about being too clean. It can be the cause of some of our problems.

I'm pretty sure I've broken most of those rules...and probably a few others that aren't even on the list.