Been There, Done That

I had a rookie mom question last week about parking at my daughter's elementary school at the frenzied hour of 3 o'clock, so I called my neighbor, whose daughter is a first grader. I didn't call the school office because Lord knows with 700 students they have enough nervous, first-time mamas to deal with. My neighbor was my BTDT (Been There, Done That) Mama for the day. I learned early on that the BTDT Mamas were my best source for helpful advice. Despite the small library of pregnancy and parenting reference books I collected when I was pregnant with Miss C, and that collected dust when I was pregnant with my second daughter, the best information I got was from the BTDT Mamas. They could tell me in 10.2 seconds what I needed to know, while the equivalent knowledge gleaned from a book would have taken me 10.2 minutes. We all know real mamas don't have that kind of time! They didn't bother to impress me with fancy medical terms or parenting lingo. They didn't sugar coat things. And I was all the more grateful for their advice. Perhaps, like me, your BTDT team includes your mother, your mother-in-law, your best friend and your sister-in-law. I'm thankful for their advice and insight. Because despite the litany of parenting Web sites and message boards available today, nothing can replace the advice of a mom who's BTDT. Do you have a BTDT Mama (or mamas) that you turn to for advice? Read more from Blonde Mom Jamie here, here and here!