Parenting Blog - For real parents everywhere
Jan 23 2012.
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Well 2012 has dawned upon us and I hope you welcomed it with a bang surrounded by your loving family and friends. As we start of with a brand new year it is human nature to reanalyze ourselves and consider how we can up the notch a bit more and hopefully reach perfection. We are after all human but with high expectations!. I do have my personal resolutions for the year, loose weight get healthy, stop buying clothes that are too small for me in the hope that I will wake up one day and be slim enough to wear them, stop procrastinating, be more tolerant of Sri Lankan customer service…anyways the list goes on.
1. I spend a lot of time looking after my children. I do have wonderful nannies to help me but despite that I am a very involved parent. I make sure they are clothed, fed, safe and so on. Being so involved in the day to day necessities I fear that I don’t actually play with them enough. Very rarely do I kick a ball, run a race, draw a picture…usually since there are three of them they instantly have a team to get any sort of sporting or play activity going, but I feel that is no excuse, my child are small for so long I am missing out.
2. I must strive to teach my kids about charity. I don’t want to churn out snobs. This year we have decided to skip the usual birthday extravaganzas that we put on for each child’s birthday but instead donate to charity.
3. More patience- less yelling, though my children shout out ‘You were supposed to do that last year mum’. It is a hard one to keep to. I recently read that for children there is no such thing as love but instead only loving acts. So I must strive to yell less and hug more.
4. Carve out time for Dad for happy mum and happy dad equals happy family. My husband definitely gives me a thumbs on this step. So reel the grandparents in for some babysitting duty and give priority to date night. It is important to keep the sparks flying despite however long you have been married.
5. Buy my children fewer branded toys. Does my daughter really need another Barbie and a self degrading stereotypical one at that. And why does one Transformer nearly cost the same as my grocery bill for the week.
6. Stop eating my children’s leftovers. Despite my constant resolution to loose weight for the convenience of it I do eat of their plates. I think all mums are guilty of this, but it catches up with us in the end. As the Shakira song states, hips don’t definitely lie. So say no to that last French fry and put down the half eaten chicken nugget. Walk away ladies.
7. Not to stress about the small things and accept that fact that I might not be a perfect parent. Just be thankful that my children have socks on when they go to school, okay they may not be matching, but we will deal that in due course.
8. Get my children to eat healthy. I start of the week with colourful menus in mind and by midweek the take out menus make an appearance or its in the car and out to unhealthy but child friendly places to eat.
9. I find that even though I am around my children a lot, I am usually supervising an activity, stopping a fight or encouraging them to get on with a chore. I don’t take the time to show them affection. Very soon they will be all grown up and too cool for mums cuddles.
10. Mums are worriers, we worry about everything pertaining to our children. I must strive not to allow the daily occurrences stress me out too much. For children are very adept at sensing problems and your bad moods can easily confuse and upset them.
11. Take my children on adventures, travel more and show them the world. Travelling with three small children is not easy and I am always a fan of small day trips since it is tedious packing the copious amount of luggage that is usually necessary to keep the family going on long trips. I should be more organized in my work as well as family commitments, for these should not prevent my children from seeing more of the world. So I must travel more.
12. Lastly I must strive to love my children more than I already do. As they get older their personalities take flight, but I must accept them for who they are and who they want to be, irrespective of whether it falls along with my expectations. As long as they are good and happy people at that end of the day, I have been successful in my mothering.
Well this is my 12 step program this year on getting it right, being a good parent that is. Please join me on a weekly basis to see how I get on. Hopefully my blog will give all parents, tips and self-learning anecdotes of my life as a parent and the trials and tribulations I go through as I raise my three lovely children. See you next week.
(Written by Mayuri Jayasinghe)
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0 Comments
melissa says:
Apr 09, 2012 at 07:05 amcan i have Mrs.Jayasinghe's contact no.or e-mail id please.coz get some details (the way to feed a baby)
melissa says:
Apr 09, 2012 at 07:06 amcan i have Mrs.Jayasinghe's contact no.to get some details (the way to feed a baby)