True Story: I use Dr. Phil for Advice

This is a true story. I love Dr. Phil. I quote him all the time to David, which makes David crazy. I think I respect this talk show cowboy so much because he tells it like it is. And I swear, at least 3 times a week, I hear him say something on the show that I just said to David! Swear. That man is a genius (and I say that because, somehow, that also makes me a genius).

But seriously. Here is the real reason I respect Dr. Phil and record his show and watch it. I was thrown into motherhood. I haven't been raising my sweet, precious angels (or sometimes spawn of the devil) since they first opened their eyes to this wide world. I got them at some very fun stages in their life (please note that there is sarcasm in that statement). I'm an only child. I have no nieces or nephews. Child rearing is a very foreign thing to me.

But a lot of it has come very naturally. And I was very quick to fall into the swing of things. But there is still a ton of uncharted territory and things that come up that I didn't even realize we should be addressing.

Cue Dr. Phil.

First of all, it makes me feel more confident about the job we do as parents, knowing that we aren't the only ones facing the things we face. I won't lie, it makes me feel a lot better to know that there are some families out there that are way more of a train wreck than us. I love to watch a show and see a family dealing with scenarios that go on right inside the walls of our little Elf House and hear someone tell me how we should be handling things.

Believe me, David and I are not the know all on parenting. Sometimes we want to throw our hands up in despair because we honestly just don't know what else to do. Then I watch some episode and suddenly I'm inspired and back grounded and ready to face our brood and our issues, head on.

I didn't know that I should be having conversations with my kids about the dangers that can face them at school, or baseball practice or a friends house. Okay, lets back up. I knew that dangers lurked around every corner and I knew you were supposed to talk to kids about 'bad touching' and 'stranger danger' but I figured mine were past that age. Newsflash, they aren't. And lets not forget about sexting, Facebook and all the other social media that can be a forum for inappropriate things to happen. 

So, Dr. Phil keeps me up to speed. He alerts me to the new dangers facing my kiddos. I mean, did you know kids were snorting pixie sticks and smoking smarties? I sure didn't. So, judge me if you will, but I will continue to use the old bald guy as my gauge on how well we are handling things at home. Not to mention, sometimes it's just a reminder to myself that our life could be much worse.