The best advice is....

Did you miss us? We took a couple of weeks off, but now we're back in full swing!

Blog Project 3.0 has been going on for about two years, even though one of the group members changed after a few months. I love blogging with this group and I hope we can continue to inspire each other.

This week, Darwin Shrugged chose the topic: Write about advice you give to other people and follow yourself AND/OR advice that you give other people but which you struggle to follow.

First, read what everyone else had to share on this topic. I will be only posting links to posts on this same topic from my group. So check back if you were hoping to read their blogs and don't see a link yet.

Darwin Shrugged
Froggie
Moma Rock

I've given a lot of advice in the past, but I usually end up making people angry or upset, or it's clear that I don't know what I'm talking about. So I've been trying not to give advice as much when it comes to personal matters. Especially when the advice is unsolicited or involves anything more than helping someone choose a nail polish color. I give my husband advice sometimes, but it's more when I know it will affect me somehow.

There's an arena in which no one should ever be giving advice...PARENTING! My husband once made a friend of mine angry when he gave advice on how she should get her kid to go to bed. And I know he gets annoyed when someone else tries to give either him or myself parenting advice. Even if they're in our family. I get bent out of shape about it too. When it comes to parenting, the only kind of advice I give is something that is meant for the parent instead of the kid. I tell new parents to sleep when the baby is sleeping. I didn't do that the first two times and was burnt out easily. When my youngest was born, I finally gave into that concept and understood why others said the same thing. There was nothing better than napping when my youngest was napping. Or I tell parents that they should only worry about what their pediatrician thinks. If their pediatrician is concerned, then they should be concerned too. For example, when it comes to how to feed your baby, you do what is best for both you and your baby, as long as the pediatrician agrees that it is okay. (They're obviously not going to agree to water or real milk in the first year.) I also share funny situations that my kids have gotten into in order to sympathize with a parent whose child is doing the same thing. I don't tell them what I did in response though.

I'm NOT giving their mom advice!

I do give advice to fellow book bloggers, but it's mostly stuff to make their lives easier and less stressful. My two big pieces of advice, that I also follow, are: "Read what you want to read" and "It's not a competition." The former is because people are worried about getting a review out close to publication. It's nice when everything comes together, but if you're forcing yourself to read a book just to get a review in on time, that takes away from the fun of reading it. If a review comes out later on, it will bring new attention to a book. And as far as the competition thing goes, I totally believe this to be true. I like working with other bloggers in a community instead of one-upping them or trying to be better than them. I try to collaborate with or help out other bloggers whenever possible.

So many to choose from...read what you WANT!

If someone personally came to me for advice and I felt equipped to help, I'd gladly do so, but I also don't expect my advice to be the end all, be all. I try to be supportive and uplifting when the situation calls for it. However, the way I may go about a situation may not be the same way someone else will and I try to keep that in mind. If I can't help, I still try to listen, as sometimes venting is all someone needs to do. I'm still fumbling my way through knowing when or when not to give advice, but I feel like I'm getting better at it than I used to be.