I am having serious issues with all the stuff I’m seeing these days about the family bed and co-sleeping and all that junk. If you are one of those parents, more power to ya, but I think it’s going to be the downfall of society.
Along with the internet and iPhones. But we’ll save that for another day.
Here’s why:
I have personal experience and expertise on the subject. I am just about as co-dependent as anyone can get. It’s pretty sick to tell you the truth. Granted, no one wants to be alone all the time, but with me it’s an incredibly debilitating affliction. I mean I need help. I cannot sleep alone.
For pity’s sake I am a grown ass woman of 25.
My mom really was just being affectionate and loving, inadvertently making me the loving and affectionate type, but the clingy-ness goes waaaaay overboard. I can recall being young and begging her to sleep with me and it became a sort of reward in my mind when she did.
You’d think I’d grow out of it right?
Wrong…
While planning my wedding I would make a pallet of blankets on the floor beside her (and her husband’s) bed and hold her hand all night. THAT’S JUST EFFED UP. When I got married, and Tim and I got our first little apartment, this enigma immediately fell on his shoulders. It was an instant transfer. Like writing a check at Walmart.
On the rare occasion that Tim is sleeping somewhere other than his own bed? I sit on the couch all night and watch TV. CANNOT sleep. Sleeping in a bed alone is like hell for me. I can’t put my finger on the exact reasoning, but it’s not like I’m afraid of the bogeyman or things under the bed. I just can’t become unconscious.
Could any of this stem from the co-sleeping as a child? Uhhhhhhh…you decide.
Oh, and I want to know: If your children sleep in your bed on a regular basis, does the hanky panky go on with them in the bed? I sure as hell hope not! So where does that leave the marital relationship? Up shit creek with no friggin paddle is where. So I hope those who do the family bed thing enjoy doing the single parent bed thing. I tend to enjoy my marital bed, thank you very much, and I’m pretty sure the hubs would not put up with a sex-less marriage for long.
Needless to say, my children sleep in their own cute little beds and I have seen no psychological recourse from this to date. Bad dreams? Thunderstorms? General bump-in-the-night situations? We do the comforting, kissing, hugging, drink of water, reassuring deal. Then…they get back in their own beds. Does this make me a bad parent? I think NOT. It makes me the type of parent that wants her children to lead healthy, normal, independent lives, unlike me. Children have survived since the dawning of time without sleeping between their parents every night.
If this offends you, go read another blog or watch your stories, mon, because I am living proof, the friggin poster child for the negative affects of co-sleeping.
New-School parenting can kiss my butt.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
No childhood co-sleeping trauma in my background, but co-sleeping always seemed stupid to me. I spend ALL day with my children. Why on earth would I want to sleep with them? I cannot understand this philosophy at ALL.Bad dreams? Sickness? Insomnia? I am all about comforting. But when everything has calmed down? Back to your bed you go.I think it teaches children independence and self-soothing and coping skills to have their own bed and their own space.Boundaries, people!Also? When Mark is out of town? I can't sleep in our bed. I lie on the couch and watch TV until late at night and then finally fall asleep watching middle of the night crap.Happily, he doesn't travel much.Pretty All True
I'm glad someone agrees. I feel like the only one now-a-days that doesn't have their kids drooling on them and kicking them in the face all night long. I think the whole concept is just ridonkulous. How do these people EVER find the time or opportunity to get it on?!?!?!