Since becoming a mum I’ve developed an insatiable need to read, view, listen, heck even overhear, every little bit of advice going. The woman at the Sainsbury’s self checkout is practically my parenting counsellor. In fact, I’ll even take advice from the crazy lady at the bus stop! Why? I hear you ask. Because, with every new stage, I feel like I need it. So when I heard Cherry Healey was back with a new documentary on BBC3 entitled Cherry’s Parenting Dilemmas I sat up with interest. I had my baby around the same time as Cherry had her daughter Coco and I’ve loved her programmes on becoming a mum. Her documentary Cherry Has a Baby looked at whether there is a right time to become a mum and she bravely took on a sensitive subject with her programme Is Breast Best?
Within a few seconds of last night’s programme, Marko and I were looking at each other with relief. Cherry’s beautiful baby Coco was a) refusing food, b) hitting her mum in the face, and c) throwing tantrums. So, it’s not just us. During the programme Cherry met mums from all over the country who have each developed very different parenting styles. A mum who smacks her child, a mum who home schools, a mum who lives in a gated community for fear of knife crime, a mum who gives her children absolutely everything she can – even if that means practically owning shares in the Disney Store. And she finds both positives and negatives with each style.
Here are some of the issues we related to from last night’s programme:
- The pain which comes with watching your child push away a healthy, nutritious, expensive meal. Even having the cheek to throw it in your face. And it is painful. And infuriating.
- To smack or not to smack?
- As a mum you want to give your children the very best of everything, but at what point do you go too far?
- No mother wants to put their child in danger, but when do you let them free in the outside world and how do you equip them for that?
- What kind of mum do I want to be? Laid-back earth mother or pushy preppy?
- And, finally, what kind of teenager is Freya going to be??
The mind boggles, but it’s nice to know other mums are going through it too…
Check out Cherry’s Parenting Dilemmas repeated on BBC3 at 8pm tonight, or on BBC iPlayer for the next seven days.
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