As You Mean to Go On

My mother taught me the old adage "start as you mean to go on."  It's been ringing in my ears a lot lately.

Up until recently, I hadn't felt like training or discipline were a part of our lives just yet.

Then we had an incident where Orelia decided she hated something (a baby carrier) she used to love.  John and I both got the impression that she hated it because we had stopped using it for a few months, but if we had "trained" her to use it, she would have been fine.

Some of my friends say they are having a lot of trouble feeding their babies, who constantly grab the spoon.  In my experience, if you want your baby to not grab the spoon - you don't let them grab the spoon, ever.  The baby learns how to eat from a spoon and is fine doing it.

It sounds stupid, but it's true.

If you want your baby to like the stroller - then you have to use the stroller and get them used to that.

If you want your baby to be comfortable feeding herself, then you have to let her feed herself.

If you want your baby to be comfortable going to restaurants, then you have to take her to restaurants.

We are obviously not in a strict or disciplining mode with Orelia.  She's only eight months old, after all.  But I'm realizing how much she picks up on the little things (and the big).  She watches John and I eat and drink and wants to imitate what we do.  In the long run, I imagine this will mean she will get her eating habits directly from us, so we had better make sure they are worthy of copying.

We are in a phase of choosing which things are important for us to "train" her.  Wearing hats is a must in sunny California, so we force them on her despite her protests.  Wearing socks, however, is less important, so we let her go barefoot.  Keeping a bib on, important.  Learning how to use a sippy cup, less important.  Tolerating car rides, important.  Tearing apart napkins, less important.  Riding in grocery carts, important...etc. etc.  

We are starting as we mean to go on in the hopes of having less battles to fight later.  I assume it will help us, but you know what happens when one assumes...