You probably read the title of this blog and thought, “oh, great! someone else telling me what I’m doing as a parent.”
I get it! We are bombarded in our society today with things we are doing “wrong” or how we are “failing” as a parent.
•Don’t let your kids have too much screen time •Don’t let your kids have too much sugar •Don’t let them argue with you or talk back •You need to take your kids outside more! •Teach them to be kind to everyone, don’t be raising mean humans!
Being a parent in our age of social media is tough when everything is see as portrayed as perfection. You can never do anything right – or so it seems.
So this blog isn’t that. Instead, it’s a list of those 5 things above that we try so hard to do for our children switched to be all about us. So many times the things we teach our kids are not mirrored in our actions as parents. We are talking the talk, but not always walking the walk. I’m guilt of it everyday! But in order to teach our children by actions and improve ourselves as well, we need to make a change. Here are 5 things you can start doing TODAY as a parent:
1. Put down the phone!! I’m most guilt of this on the list since I work predominantly from my phone and computer. I don’t put it down to enjoy the moments I’m in. Do we want our children to remember us through a phone screen? Make the effort today to put it down and get present with your children.
2. Reach for a water instead of soda. If we want our children to have healthy habits, we need to model healthy habits. If you are purchasing a soda every time you go to the gas station but you’re telling them no to the candy because it’s unhealthy for them, is that truly helping since you aren’t modeling that behavior?
3. Start having meaningful conversations with your kids! A lot of people will tell us not to have our kids talk back and while I agree with not letting our kids be disrespectful, we need to foster true and meaningful conversations with our children! It starts with us- so start having meaningful conversations with the adults around you to serve as examples for our children.
4. Get outside! In the Alabama summer heat, it is a struggle for me to take all 6 of my children outside but I try to make a point to get outside a least once a day. Whether it be a walk around the neighborhood, playing in our little pool outside, taking a trip to the park or more elaborate plans like zoo trips or splash pads. You’ll be surprised how much of an improvement in your mental health and your children’s when you get outside instead of staying inside all day.
5. Being kind to others is contagious. I have always taught my children that kindness to all is the number one most important thing I want them to learn from me. While teaching kindness for others is of course important, it needs to start in our homes first! Modeling kindness to our children needs to start with kindness to them, kindness to our spouses, kindness to our pets and our other family around us. Kindness in our little humans is the best way to foster them growing into big humans who will be kind to everyone in their lives as well.
Start with these 5 things today! They may take some time to make habits in your life but I promise that the rewards will be well worth the shift and work. 💜
3. Ra
The Monarch Mama 