What are you supposed to think when someone writes you a ten page email with advice, and then tells you to ignore all of it?
When Erica and I began telling people we were going to have a baby, we decided to try to head off the inevitable flood of unsolicited advice by soliciting it ourselves. We began asking all of the young parents we knew to send us their best pieces of advice, their reading lists, their favorite web sites. The response was amazing. People responded with care, passion, frustration, and wit. They sent general reflections and specific suggestions.
Sometimes the advice was unanimous, oftentimes it conflicted, but what surprised us was that nearly every person said the best advice they could offer was to simply ignore all the advice. That’s right, above all else they said, trust yourselves and trust your child. “Go with the flow,” “Enjoy the ride,” “Follow your gut.” “Let instinct guide you.”
So what do you do with pages and pages of advice that everyone says to ignore…? You pass it on to others!
Erica and I have compiled the wisdom of our friends into this e-book: “Whatever You Do Just Ignore My Advice.” We can’t vouch for any of the advice on these pages, but we enjoyed reading it and we hope you do to. It has pointed us in some new directions and given us lots to discus and explore.
Although we did edit people’s advice for organization and flow, we tried hard not to modify the unique voices and styles of writing. This is not a perfect document, nor is it a finished document. Our goal is to have this be a living document that will grow as people send in more parenting advice, tips, tricks, and resources. We’ll keep adding to it with our own reflections, questions, and ideas as well. So take a minute to download it, read it, and pass it along to a friend.
In the end we suspect you will take what is useful, leave what is not, but whatever you do, ignore our advice.
Download the e-book here:
1) Whatever You Do Just Ignore My Advice (regular file size for most internet connections)
2) Whatever You Do Just Ignore My Advice (small file size for dial-up internet connections)
Josh Stearns 