Excuse me while I rant about lousy parenting advice

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Most of the parenting advice I get is to enjoy The Kid at this age as much as possible, and the reasoning behind that advice is either that teenagers are hellions (duh!) or the regret of a parent who frittered away their time with their two-year old.

Rarely does someone give advice that deviates from that, until they figure out we adopted The Kid. When that happens, people either insist on telling you all about their sister-in-law's best friend's first cousin who adopted a couple of kids, or they start to give you nonsensical advice.

My favorite, or least-favorite in this context, piece of advice was to heed the advice of all adoptive parents because they have a similar experience to ours.

That's BS.

This statement is a direct reflection on my outlook on the world. I wouldn't take career advice from someone with a job just because they have a job, or marriage advice from some random married person just because they are married, so why would I take parenting advice from someone just because they adopted a child?

I believe in finding people who have the type of life you want and learning from them. In this case, I will take my cues from parents, adoptive or otherwise, who I respect and admire.

  

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