2020 has given us enough lessons to last a lifetime.
Some of the more positive takeaways include be kind, serve your community, slow down, reflect on what really matters, save snail mail, buy local, and practicing gratitude as much as you can.Â
Before we close the book on 2020 (and hide it somewhere it can never be found), we wanted to highlight some parenting advice from our Season 2 guests.Â
"Postpartum isn't a few months, it is for life. You know you rearranged organs and the physical structure of your posture to be able to grow another human being. No matter if it was a textbook pregnancy or textbook delivery to, you know, a major surgery a C section, you know, there's still so much that goes on in the healing of our body that 6-8 weeks is just, I mean it's just a small second in the postpartum recovery and rehab."

Kathrine Bright
KatFit
"I find that having a system just makes things easier and runs smoother for me and our household. At times like this, some of those systems are just running in the background, which has been really great. For me, it also allows me to be more flexible and pivot when things come up that cause me to change my routine."

Allison Barto
Logistics Master
14 - Why You Need a Well-Rounded Pregnancy & Postpartum Education
"I always tell patients and moms and dads to advocate for yourself, don't be afraid to ask questions. It's never too late to ask a question! A lot of people forget that you have that lifeline to your pediatrician, OB/GYN, and nurses on that triage line. I always told my patients I would rather that you are up at night because your baby is up and needs to eat and you're looking at that adorable little face, then you're up worrying."

Nicole Didizian
Main Line Family Education
"Bottom line is, everything's new, everything's scary but you're the expert because you're the mom. So all the people are going to give you advice and tell you what to do. You've got to go with your gut, and you know, you are going to make some mistakes. But ultimately your maternal instincts will know what to do."

Hallie Steinberg
Hallie's Healthy Living
16 - Advice For New Dads with Scott Bragg
"Be ready for a change in your life, because the changes can affect other areas of your life. Obviously, you lose sleep, you may not perform in other areas of your life that you used to (productivity issues at work). Using the metaphor of the pizza pie, previously your work was, I don't know, 60 or 50 or 70% of your pie. Now, I mean, maybe 30% of your pie, that kind of thing, because you have other priorities in your life that take precedence over everything."

Scott Bragg
Scott Bragg Counseling
"Something I mention to parents is that I think is so interesting, especially when they feel like 'I've lost myself in this process I've lost my identity as a person, as I become a parent.' What I find is really interesting is you'll hear the cliche that everything changes when you become a parent, and you change so much. What I actually find as a therapist, is that we become more of who we are, when we become parents, which is really interesting."

Nicole McNelis
Counseling for Women
"When you're in a vulnerable place of being sleep deprived or overwhelmed or conflicted, whatever it might be, I think you need someone that can sort through issues. Someone to nudge you in the right direction and help you get through those moments where you second guess it. However, it needs to be in a way that doesn't feel judgy or blamey, any of the emotions that we don't need to feed into it."

Erica Desper
Confident Parenting
"Every parent is different. Writing is I believe, just like parenting. Every person needs to find their voice and find the method which works best for them. I just do what I can when I can do it. I plan a lot and then I constantly find myself reprioritizing for me, my kids will always be on top."

Aditi Wardhan Singh
Raising World Children
"I call myself the confidence keeper. I call myself that because I believe that if we have confidence, we can pretty much do anything when we walk outside of our door. And I'm trying to teach my girls that now. You have to love the body in the season that you're in."

Maria Swann
Stylishly You
"So being able to survive those first several weeks into the first several months into you know early one of them is so important and learning to prioritize yourself in a way that where you don't feel guilty for doing it. Studies show that mothers that are well-nourished all the way around so maybe nutrition and exercise, really are able to take care of their babies better, and in their families."

Jada Glover
Lactation Mamas
"First of all, motherhood is a full-time job. So whenever you can, just even in motherhood, outside of business, outsource! You have to sometimes get yourself a break because that's how you show up better as a mom."
"Surround yourself with a village of people who have been through it. And I know for me personally, having my own mom, my mother in law, my grandmother's but also my friends who already had kids. There's nothing more sacred than mom friends, I think and just having people to talk to let loose to vent about what you're going through, I think is so important."
24 - Babyproofing Your Relationship with Nora Wright
"I think today in our society, it's almost a given that you don't know what to expect for birth. Most couples or most moms think, 'I don't know what I'm doing, I should take a class." The birth experience is one or two days, but new parenting extends on for the rest of your life. And, it's not a given that will take time to think about how, how will this transition change me."
"For me, my resources were the other moms, that was kind of the mom network. They were all kinds of people I had met through local programs. The storytime at the YMCA, or at the Public Library is kind of essential. But it was great for meeting different moms, who then kind of turned me on to other things in the Borough that were going on and other programs. And so that, to me, was really where I kind of got the bulk of my knowledge was for moms."