Now that it’s finally the New Year, we make way for New Year’s resolutions, both the ones that will get ignored after a week and the ones that actually need to be pursued.
For now, let’s talk about the resolutions and goals that affect important stuff and will need to be fully pursued. We are talking about your parenting, of course.
Since this is literally going to affect your children, we advise you to take this seriously and re-evaluate how you have been parenting for the past few years. Think about it in their perspective too. Children are impressionable, especially on their parents. Everything that happens in their mind when they grow up will all be because of the way you act around them and how you treat them. This goes the same for what you teach them and how you handle everything and everyone around you.
This is why parenting is hard. We KNOW what is right and wrong for our children, but we ourselves aren’t exactly perfect beings. We get carried away by our emotions and make mistakes right in front of them. We can’t control what happens. Yes, parenting is the hardest thing to do in existence. But we get by.
Rethink the way you spend time with your children
You might be there physically but are you even really paying attention to them? Is your mind FULLY on them? Because sometime they notice and it affects them. You should dedicate at least a full 10 minutes to them and them alone. Where they call the shots (Legos, questions, toys, etc.) and you pay attention to what they are saying and engage in them.
Ensure that they get enough sleep
Sleep is NOT for the weak. Sleep is important, both for the kids and YOU. Make sure that you turn bedtime into something they look forward to so they would actually get a lot of sleep. Put toys away as soon as 8:30 appears and help them brush their teeth– the usual bedtime routine. Then, to keep them interested, tell them stories before they sleep. Keep it as interesting as possible but also not enough that would keep them awake all night and badgering you about the story itself.
Demonstrate behaviour you want to seem
“Do as I say, not as I do”. This saying is what we mostly want to teach them. Because it’s hard to be the perfect person, we tend to become hypocritical with our kids. But that doesn’t seem fair for them. It gives them the thought “well, if dad is doing this then it must be fine for me to be like this too”. That’s already going to mess them up as they grow. If you want them to be a good person and adapt good and healthy habits, make an effort to change YOURSELF too. Make them adapt the good habits and not just because you told them to. Live as an example.
Give every kid a job or two
This teaches them responsibility. They might not like it and it might annoy them (I can already hear them whine and complain), but tasks, chores and responsibility is going to be very important to them when they become adults themselves. Make them get used to the responsibility so they don’t become useless in the future when they finally have to live by themselves.