I have been trying on and off all afternoon to write a calm journal entry that will keep me from stepping on toes (of friends IRL) while at the same time venting my frustration and throwing out the topic to my HSJ friends to get a little support and commiseration. It’s not easy, and by this point I think I’m going to have to fling my hands up in despair.
So let me throw this one out as a question instead of an essay.
How do you cope with having IRL friends who make parenting decisions that make your heart cringe? (The operative word there is friends - people you love, not just parents you met at the playground.) Many of us in the HSJ community are strong advocates of attached parenting - breast is best, stay-at-home-parenting, and of course, given the nature of the board, homeschooling. Have you struggled with having a friend who - though exposed to your choices and lifestyle, and naturally rational and well-educated decisions (naturally!) - makes the opposite decisions? Or non-decisions - accepting things like formula, daycare and public school because that’s what everyone does and it must be good enough, and it’s easier anyway?
How do you balance your friendship with the conviction that the best is worth working for, and good enough is not enough for our children?
Sigh. Even this entry feels like it’s said too much. (FWIW, the friends in question are NOT frequent readers of this blog. As far as I know, they’ve never read it, but they do know it exists and might happen across it in the future since the address is in the sig file on my email…)
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