Ashley My Future Narcissus

I just finished reading Naptime Is the New Happy Hour, the second I've read by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor...or as I like to call her, my new BFF. She's pretty much my mom twin. She's relaxed, kind of lazy, crazy about her kid, and she doesn't feel like raising her kid is a science, just like me! She mentions a lot of radical (bullshit) parenting trends that people practice and obsess over, one being the idea that over praising your infant/toddler will lead to a narcissistic teenager with too much self esteem. Stef (we're BFF now, so I call her Stef) says that her toddler walks around their house saying "pretty girl" at the sight of her own photos. But she's not afraid of her teenaged daughter calling herself a pretty girl, she's afraid that she WON'T.

I praise Ashley when she deserves it (all the time) for accomplishments like holding still (mostly) for a diaper change, taking a bite of food, new tricks she learns, existing. She's my baby, she makes my life happier than ever. She deserves the endless supply of compliments and praise that I dish out on a daily basis. And if I end up with a teenaged girl with TOO MUCH self esteem...I'm patting myself on the back.