Rules are meant to be broken—or at least bent a bit. So do it your way and ignore these fussy old rules.
1. The whole idea of certain foods for certain meals. If he wants fish sticks at 8 a.m., is that really all that different from sausage?
2. The rule that says all baby-care must be split 50/50 with Daddy. You can hold all those diaper changes and baths over his head for years worth of school-dance carpool driving.
3. Organic everything. No one ever called Poison Control over a Cheeto.
4. Being a helicopter parent. Your kids aren’t going to let you hover for even a second when they’re 12. Better to get in your 10,000,000 hugs and top-of-head kisses while you can.
5. Two TV shows in a row. Every once in a while it’s treat, not a brain-melter.
6. Keeping on the jammies. No baby ever ended up in therapy because his mommy kept him in pj’s until 2 p.m.
7. Birth announcements within two weeks. Please. How much cuter will your baby be in a month or two when the picture can be a smiling one?
8. That whole nine months on, nine months off baby weight rule. Give it a year.
9. Bribery! Think of it this way: Your paycheck bribes you to go to work, right? Not all that different with, say, M&Ms and potty training.
10. Only breast milk! Only organic cotton clothes! Only nighttime pacifiers! Only about a million ways to drive yourself crazy. Do what works for you.