10 secrets
Reading through the March 8 edition of my Family Circle magazine and there is a story titled "10 secrets of happy childhood."
Ok, intriguing enough. I'll bite. Ok, I may hurl, too. I won't fill in all the specifics, but there are the categories:
1. Love the child you have.
2. Turn "No, I can't" into "Yes, I can."
3. Set fair rules and stick to them.
4. Bring out the bright side.
5. Create a caring team.
6. Get them off the couch.
7. Bank happiness in a memory box.
8. Find magical moments of connection.
9. Give them the bounce-back gene.
10. Instill a sense of wonder.
Ok. Do we REALLY need a magazine to tell us these things? Yes, I love the child I have. My oldest isn't what I was planning. I was really hoping he'd be this athletic, competitive over-achiever like his mom. Instead, I get a brooding artist who is starting to excel in a solo athletic event. Ok, I love my boy as he is. I'm still working on the motivation to turn negatives into positives. I try to be fair and stick to my guns. I try to be Polyanna as best I can while being realistic, too. I think we do a fair job of being caring. I make his little butt get off the couch and play. We definitely have reminders of happy times all around us in photos and souvenirs of trips. We try to connect when we can over mutual topics of interest. We try to let things slide off our back and instill that in the kiddos. And, the wonder thing? I'm still learning all the time, so I try to share that wonder with the kids.
Again, seriously. Do you really think a parent who isn't doing these things and may be slapping back a fifth of whiskey and smacking the kid around is going to have an epiphany after reading this? Well, I have really been slacking off. Think I'll instill a sense of wonder in my child today before I send the kid down to the corner Hajimart to buy me a pack of smokes.
Come on. *shaking my head* Sometimes insults my intelligence (what little is left of it.)
Ok, intriguing enough. I'll bite. Ok, I may hurl, too. I won't fill in all the specifics, but there are the categories:
1. Love the child you have.
2. Turn "No, I can't" into "Yes, I can."
3. Set fair rules and stick to them.
4. Bring out the bright side.
5. Create a caring team.
6. Get them off the couch.
7. Bank happiness in a memory box.
8. Find magical moments of connection.
9. Give them the bounce-back gene.
10. Instill a sense of wonder.
Ok. Do we REALLY need a magazine to tell us these things? Yes, I love the child I have. My oldest isn't what I was planning. I was really hoping he'd be this athletic, competitive over-achiever like his mom. Instead, I get a brooding artist who is starting to excel in a solo athletic event. Ok, I love my boy as he is. I'm still working on the motivation to turn negatives into positives. I try to be fair and stick to my guns. I try to be Polyanna as best I can while being realistic, too. I think we do a fair job of being caring. I make his little butt get off the couch and play. We definitely have reminders of happy times all around us in photos and souvenirs of trips. We try to connect when we can over mutual topics of interest. We try to let things slide off our back and instill that in the kiddos. And, the wonder thing? I'm still learning all the time, so I try to share that wonder with the kids.
Again, seriously. Do you really think a parent who isn't doing these things and may be slapping back a fifth of whiskey and smacking the kid around is going to have an epiphany after reading this? Well, I have really been slacking off. Think I'll instill a sense of wonder in my child today before I send the kid down to the corner Hajimart to buy me a pack of smokes.
Come on. *shaking my head* Sometimes insults my intelligence (what little is left of it.)
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home