<p>TheGFG,</p>
<p>I can still see myself frantically buying a small library of books like The Active Alert Child while my well laid plans for running my horse business with an infant imploded. My daughter did nothing the way the baby books said she should. We adjusted to the child we had, rather than the perfectly scheduled, happily content babies of friends and family. </p>
<p>It was a massive effort at the time, and nothing like what I imagined parenthood would be. Child became my primary job because it was obvious to me that anything else would result in a damaged child. Eighteen years later, the most challenging parts of her baby personality are her greatest strengths. They could have been her greatest weaknesses. I wish our financial circumstances weren’t impacted by our choices, but we can’t have everything.</p>