When I became a parent, I was not prepared for all of the unsolicited advice that I would receive from my family and friends about how to raise my children. I learned very quickly that everyone is a critic and that most people have very different ideas from one another about parenting. Unfortunately, what I found hard to accept, and still have difficulty with to this day, was the level of hostility that others would exhibit upon realizing that you have no intention of changing anything about how you parent to conform to their standards.     The very first parenting issue that came up when I had my older son was the issue of religion.  I am a non practicing Catholic and my husband was raised Pentecostal.  We agreed way before having children that I would be in charge of my children's spiritual upbringing.  Obviously, my Mother In Law had different ideas about how to lay the spiritual foundation of MY kids so we disagreed vehemently on that point.  That was the first … [Read more...]