Some children you just need to snuggle more. Some need more hand holding, some need more physical affection. Some will be just fine being sleep trained, being taught the routine, and some will have anxiety over being forced into a routine. Of course structure is important, but sometimes creativity is required.
In deciding what approach to take in parenting each individual child, remember that… they are INDIVIDUALS. If you don’t call attention to the differences, but instead try to parent each child to their own needs, they will not notice as much that another child may be parented differently. It will be ever so slight, and the only REAL thing a child notices is when their needs are unmet.
So when you have that one child that breaks the mold, the one you have to lay with until they fall asleep, take those quiet moments as a gift from God. He put that child in your life, in that moment, for a reason. Take the moments to snuggle, meditate, pray, or just sleep!
If your child is reaching to you for more love and attention, remind yourself, that eventually you will lay with that child for the last time. And if you are alive for 40 years of that child’s lifetime, is laying with them nearly every night for 2 or 3 years REALLY the end of the world?
