Becoming a mother was one of the most stressful moments of my life. I quickly discovered that the advice of members of the medical profession did not always agree with the advice passed down from the older generation of my family. For example, the advice to introduce cereal into a baby's last bottle at night for a few extra hours of sleep, or the advice to wake a baby every two hours at first to feed him, or, even more confusing for me, the advice on punishing children in general. Becoming a parent (especially at a young age), I found it difficult to separate true, helpful advice from useless or unimportant advice. I worried that maybe I really had no idea what I was doing and it became easy for someone else to convince me that I was endangering my child or that I was a bad parent for doing something another way. I have always thought that my family could be a source of advice and support when I decide to start a family. In addition to raising me, they had years of experience effectively managing a household. This meant to me that I would have no problem receiving some useful advice. But sometimes, instead of receiving helpful advice, I felt like my husband and I were being criticized for the way we were doing things. And most of the time, when we received advice, it went against the way we had chosen to raise our children. Which only leads to hard feelings when you decide not to follow all the advice we were given. The first advice I received from my mother after having my daughter for a couple of weeks was: (Mind you, I wasn't sleeping much at this point.) to widen the bottle nipple and then add a couple of tablespoons of cereal to children to the last bottle in n...... half of the paper ......unlike your grandmother or don't take them all some advice your doctor gives you. I finally figured it out on my own. My doctor and my family gave me different types of advice. My doctor had medical advice, while my family had “mom” advice that came from raising their own children. The key is to trust yourself and gain the confidence to be a good parent. Raising a child can be very difficult. Children learn how to be adults from none other than adults themselves, and the most influential adult role models are their parents. Parents need to know that they are one of the biggest influences in their children's socialization process. Everyone has their own vision of how to be a good parent. Every child is raised differently. Just remember that your obligation is to raise your children in the best way you see fit and you will always come out on top.