Does anyone remember the world before The Internet? How did people parent without broadband? How did they discover which teething gel was best, or which white noise app had the best reviews, or if the colour of their baby’s poo was normal? How did they find friends in similar situations, how did they find comfort knowing they weren’t alone?
I’ve teamed up with TalkTalk Business broadband to bring you 23 things you will undoubtedly use your broadband for as the parent of a young child in 2017…
- Googling random parenting questions like “is green baby poo normal”, “how can I make my child sleep”, and “is cat food dangerous for babies”
- Finding support and talking to parents on birth boards and Facebook groups because it’s essential to know you’re not alone
- Watching YouTube cat videos at 3am during *another* night feed
- Googling more questions like “will my child ever sleep”, “can you die from sleep deprivation” and “why does my child hate me”
- Online shopping for anything that may help – teething gels, white noise machines, magical teddies and a lot of false promises
- Making friends and building support networks made up of equally sleep deprived parents
- Scrolling through Facebook and feeling a little jealous of all your friends with care free lives and dribble free clothes
- Finding salt free/sugar free/fun free recipes to start weaning
- Using Pinterest to save ideas and recipes, knowing full well you’ll never get around to making them
- Watching keep fit videos and post partum exercises on YouTube (just watching, not copying..)
- Reading up on milestones, Wonder Weeks, growth spurts and developmental leaps – searching for explanations for the crying or the lack of sleep
- Googling natural remedies for teething and colds, trying them all then ordering Calpol from Amazon in bulk
- Searching for hours for first birthday party inspiration, even though they’ll never remember the day
- Ordering your food shop, because Tesco with a toddler is just too hard
- Scrolling through Instagram for so long you feel the need to paint your whole house white and bin all your belongings
- Spending hours researching child friendly holidays and how to survive a plane journey with a toddler
- Downloading apps and movies for toddler entertainment, and five minutes peace
- Spending your evenings working at home, catching up on emails and to do lists. Or tirelessly grafting to create a business or brand on your laptop or iPhone so you can stay at home with your child
- Googling more questions – “can my child survive on just chips” and “why is Duplo so expensive”
- Watching YouTube videos of other children opening surprise eggs and playing with play dough
- Finding ‘hidden veg’ recipes and searching for ways to bribe your toddler to eat something that isn’t beige
- Sharing parenting memes on Facebook and Twitter, mostly about gin
- Reading blog posts like this one and realising that without broadband you’d be pretty screwed…
This is a collaborative post
