Community Corner
Parenting Tips from a Novice
These ideas could be helpful to someone with even less parenting experience than I have.
I have been a mom for more than four years now, and much of the time I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing while I’m being run a bit ragged by working full-time and caring for two kids under age 5.
Yet it occurs to me that while I’m often left scratching my head about what to do – How do you get a 4-year-old to realize she’s not in charge? How do I keep my son from standing on top of the dining room table? – I have also come up with a few parenting tips of my own that could be somewhat useful to someone with even less experience than I have:
- Always snag the first shower. You know how the flight attendants do their disaster drill before take-off, and they always say you should secure your own oxygen mask before helping anyone else, even if you are traveling with children? Same thing applies to the morning routine. Always take a shower or do whatever it takes for you to feel human before starting to get everyone else ready for the day. Of course this has to go by the wayside if someone is really ill, but on any given day, you’ll be better equipped to deal with others if you yourself feel awake and sane.
- Let the timer be the bad guy. Is it almost naptime or bedtime or time to do something else your kid dislikes? Set the timer on your microwave. That way, the timer is the meanie who says time is up instead of you.
- Come up with a different bedtime song for each child. This happened by accident with Lucy and then on purpose for Ike when I realized how singing a special song just for Lucy helped her settle down and fall asleep. Now she claims to be too old for this ritual, but she likes to help me sing to her little brother, so although the tradition is morphing a bit, but the effect is still the same.
- Learn how to make pancakes. This has only recently become important, probably because I finally decided to conquer this tricky (at least for flipping-impaired me) cooking skill. This is currently the centerpiece of the family’s favorite meal: Breakfast for dinner.
- Make time to be alone with your spouse. Even if the only togetherness you have the time and energy for at the end of a busy day is to sit on the couch and watch TV together, that’s time to remind each other why you brought the crazy little people into the world in the first place.
That is about all the advice I feel qualified to offer. What are you golden rules of parenting?
