Parenting Styles

I have many friends who are also mothers and we all have our own way of being parents. Some of us like Rob and I are very laid back parents. We want our kids to grow up and be independent. We let them try new things while we watch, we let them explore, we let them know that they can think for themselves although what they think is best might not be what we decide to let them do. If they fall and scrap a knee we tell them to brush it off and that they are okay. I have friends who are not as laid back as we are. They might be in some aspects but not in all aspects. I also have friends that coddle their kids. I have friends that are "helicopter parents" and hoove rover their kids all the time. But those are parenting styles that work for them, just like our style works for us. And I am sure that people have their comments about my kids or my way of parenting just like I have made comments about other people. But when it comes down to it shouldnt we all just be supporting eachother. We are all moms and the one thing we all have in common is that we want the best for our kids. We just have different ideas of how to get their. There is no hand book for parenting. We have all watched our parents and probably decided on things they did that we liked and things we would change. We also have different personalities that go into our parenting styles and our kids have different personalities that make our parenting choices what they are. But I think we could also learn from eachother. I think we could take ideas and styles and blend them to make ourselves even better. I think I am a pretty good mom but I am sure that I could be better. I think every mom has days when they think they could have done better and maybe the way to start is to stop critizing everyone elses way and actually try to take something from it.