Information overload

With only two days until the start of winter, we think Tom is showing the beginnings of his first cold - sniffs, snuffles, grumps, etc.

Well, 'tis the season after all - and I have little doubt that both his Mum and his Dad will have their own annual affliction soon enough. But to see this tiny little person exhibiting such symptoms makes me realise just how much I care for him - and just how much I worry when things go wrong, or do not go as expected.

Granted, some things warrant a certain amount of concern ... and one would be a terrible parent if one did not proverbially spoil oneself when one's baby passes out and requires a ride in an ambulance.

However, parenthood presents you with a whole host of new things to worry about - particularly in the current information age, when opinions and advice are so plentiful. Gone are the days when the only conflicting advice that new parents needed to balance out was that provided by alternate grandmothers (and that was merely a political process more than anything else!) Now, with the advent of the web, you can have 'helpful hints' and 'expert advice' delivered directly to your doorsteps, both virtual and physical. The resultant, often self-contradictory, questions can keep you awake into the wee hours:

• Is he getting enough food?
• Is he putting on too much weight?
• Why won't he sleep longer?
• Why isn't he more playful?
• Should I torture him with more 'tummy time'?
• Should he be holding his head up at this age?
• etc.

While I'm certain that we will cease worrying so much about the minutiae of the boy's wellbeing as he grows older (... Did you hear that noise? It sounded very much like my mother, my in-laws and every other parent who has ever been all saying 'HA!' at the same time ...), this demonstrates to me - more so than anything in my professional life - the importance of information literacy and filtering skills.

The internet is a big ol' data repository, containing equal quantities of valuable insights, considered reflection, subjective opinion, and mindless rubbish. Learning to sift through all this and emerge with useful knowledge (along with one's sanity intact) is a useful trick when foraging for information - and a crucial survival skill for impressionable, panic-stricken new parents!