Immigrant/similar families: how did you handle entrenched folk beliefs?

[Anonymous]

I pushed back gently but firmly. It was my own mom, so it made it easier. She brought up old superstitions that said that the baby should not be brought outside the house for the first 3 months. It was a lovely April and I wasn’t having any of that.

[Anonymous]

No is a complete sentence. You don’t need to entertain follow up questions.

[Anonymous]

I had my kids in my husband's home country so it wasn't just my in laws with the traditional beliefs but also the nanny, our friends, and just about every else.

You have to pick your battles. In my husband's country there is this horror of moving air around infants and our nanny begged us tearfully to stop using air conditioning. I'm American and that was obviously not going to happen but I agreed to aim the vents away from the child so that the vented AC bounced off the walls first which was somehow better?

I stood firm on the banning of crib bumpers though. Strangely the European safe sleep standards do not explicitly ban crib bumpers and they are commonly used where we lived. Again the prevailing belief is to prevent drafts on the baby.

OP, since it seems are in the US you probably aren't obligated entertain traditional beliefs but you might see if there is something traditional you can incorporate while adhering to modern safety standards. One day your kid will probably think it's cool that they were raised with some aspects of their historic culture.

[Anonymous]

This thread makes me grateful I don't have toxic, overbearing parents. My mom respects how I parent my kid, and would never insist her way is better.

With that said, I'd go along with some things that are harmless. My mom is so great, I WANT to bend over backwards to involve her sometimes. The jewelry would be fine to me. I'd let them do the red string thing if they're around; but just not do it at home.