There has been an advertisement on TV for a while, and I keep waiting for people to talk about it. I’m very involved in the parenting space and if there have been discussions, somehow I’ve missed it. It’s an ad for a Tylenol cold medicine.
While many parents spend this time of year considering what they can do better next year, I like to reflect on some of my best parenting fails over the previous year. I consulted with my six humans who confirmed the list was endless, but provided me with their top three:
Parenting Fail #1
That time I had no food and no clean plates or bowls, so I gave them all pasta from a tin served up in pint glasses for dinner.
Litterless lunches are the way to go, and this reusable bento-ware lunch system makes it a snap. I still wish all those lunches would just pack themselves, but short of that, having Laptop Lunches to work with is the next best thing.
It’s still winter time in Canada which means kids everywhere are waiting for the ever-allusive SNOW DAY. In case you didn’t know – your children are in control of whether or not school is canceled based on a whole bunch of crazy superstitions.
If your children would like a snow day, it is guaranteed to happen if they do the following on the evening before the desired snow day:
I took a moment to reflect on the past year to see where I went wrong and where I could do better when it comes to parenting my six darlings.
Other than the usual stuff like forgetting to be the tooth fairy, turning up late for the school play, and pretending I was listening to their concerns while I was on Twitter, the biggie fails this year included:
At some point, every child doesn’t make the team, gets cut from choir, or just doesn’t have what it takes for the competitive dance troupe or cheer team. This disappointment will happen, and we’ve certainly experienced it in our household.
I’m quite proud of how my kiddos have handled this kind of disappointment, so I got to thinking about what we’ve done that may have made our kids cope fairly well in these very upsetting situations.
As parents, it's our job to know and understand what is going on with our children. From school, friends, and activities, to what they are doing online. Things have come a long way since we were playing Space Invaders in the basement. Online safety is now another thing we must be concerned about and it has to be a top priority.
The tween and teen years can be awkward. As some of my kids approach this age, I’ve pulled in some professionals to help teach them skills that will come in handy as they navigate this tricky phase of life.
