Mark Schultz’s Parenting Advice

With those sweet blue eyes looking up at him, it is a miracle that Mark Schultz the dad ever gets his way on anything! His two young sons easily have their daddy wrapped around their little fingers but Mark Schultz the musician explains that his and his wife’s parenting styles are pretty close for one reason. “I just listen to my wife, pretty much,” Mark explains, “whatever she decides is good with me.” He goes on to say exactly why he relies on her wealth of knowledge, “My wife, let me just say this, you know when you have a baby, my wife is the lady who read all fourteen books on ‘What To Expect’ then she highlighted for me what I was supposed to read.”

But what about that moment when one of those precious sons woke up crying as an infant and Mark could barely stand to let him cry it out? “He would cry and I would just get up to get him and she would grab my arm and she’d be like wait, wait a second.” Experts agree with Mark’s wife, that the moment that a baby learns to self soothe is when they begin to control their emotions. In fact, consistent nap and bedtimes, working away from the swaddle so their hands are free and putting your baby down drowsy instead of asleep once a day can be added to waiting a minute or two before parenting a crying, supposed to be sleeping, baby. It took Mark a while to get that notion. “I was like I think he’s dying in there” Mark exclaims, “and next thing you know that kids sleeps through the night with no problem.”  If you are still having a hard time not parenting the baby until they are asleep, maybe just shorten the amount of time you spend rocking or patting them gradually to salve your own heart while teaching them to self soothe.

And don’t be too hard on yourself if you have not taught your baby/toddler to self soothe… cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow, for babies grow up we’ve learned to our sorrow, so quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep; I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep. Or if you are a dad in the same boat, listen to Mark on at least one point, “Man, I just listen to her, she’s just a lot smarter than I am.”