I found this wonderful article on effortless parenting. I found it to be a great list of some of the most important aspects of parenting. I have written before on the danger of raising children that are not self sufficient. Many parents are now so protective of their children that they do not want to let them fail. This has disastrous consequences when a child becomes an adult that can not deal with any adversity.
This article also brings up spending time outside and not over scheduling your children. I have seen children that have not a minute of time free during the week. Again how do children deal with down time or being bored if they never experience it? I grew up in a different time and a non-urban space but in the summer we were sent outside in the morning, could come in for lunch, and than were sent back outside until dinner. We learned to play creatively and with others. I understand that those in urban environments have some challenges with the outdoors part, but your child should still have time with no activities. There should be no such thing as “I am bored”, they need to learn to be with themselves.
I love number #9. I think one of the best gifts I got from my own mother was my love of reading. I see so many kids now that hate reading and it really saddens me, so many worlds that will be left unexplored. Like anything else your kids need to see you doing it, if they only see you on the computer or in front of the tv, that is what they will want to do.
Love them is the given rule at the start of the article and the one I will end with. Your child needs your unconditional love. They may have aspects of their personality that challenge you, but no matter what they need to know that you love them. Without that, nothing else really matters.
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