DISQUS

I\'m going to agree with the 2-3 years apart.. That gives a woman\'s body time to heal (they say it takes 18 months for the body to recover)..
Some friends of mine have what I guess you\'d call \"Irish Triplets\".. She had the first baby, a boy.. Got pregnant less than 3 months later, Baby #2 was due the same month Baby #1 was to turn a year old.. But Baby #2, a girl, was born 6 weeks early.. So they had a 2 month old at Baby #1\'s first birthday... Then when Baby #2 was about 6 months old, she got preg with Baby #3, another boy..
Now they have Baby #1 who turned 2 a few of months ago, Baby #2 that\'s almost a year and half and newborn Baby #3... I can\'t even fathom trying to parent a 2 y/o a 1 y/o and a newborn at the same time, it has to be extremely stressful to say the least....

My son who is almost 6 does not have any toy guns.. I find it disturbing to see small children run around and pretend to shoot eachother (although me and my brother did at 8 or 9ish, and we didn\'t turn into psycho killers).. I do have a real gun in the house (a 9mm) and I need him to respect guns and what they can do.. If you were to ask him right now what guns do he would tell you they kill people, I think its important that he knows and understands that. When he is old enough (I haven\'t picked an age yet, maybe 12 depending on his maturity) I will teach him to shoot.. I also believe it is an important skill to have. All and all, guns are not something that should be taken lightly, and I believe toy guns make kids too *comfortable* with firearms..

I co-slept with my son until he was about 5 months.. I tried to leave him in the crib at first (like 2 nights) but even with a motion sensor monitor I was still in there to check on him every 5 minutes.. I was a zombie.. It wasn\'t worth it. I could actually get some *sleep* with my hand on his chest/stomach, if he coughed or sniffed funny I woke in an instant. The quality of the sleep I got with him right there was 50x better than when he was away. I woke the second he moved or anytime I needed to move. I never even once rolled over (not on top of him, I mean rolled over at all) while asleep with him. At all times even when asleep I knew he was there. When he started to be more mobile that was when he started sleeping in the crib.. We had no problems at all with the transfer.. No crying fits or sleepless nights. He slept with me one night and he slept in the crib the next, and from then on.. He is almost 6 years old now and has never had trouble sleeping on his own. There is a definite bonding quality to sleeping so close to your child, it might not be for everyone but I don\'t think it should be outright discouraged.. Just my experience though...