Raising children is hard – but no one needs to tell you that. Getting through the day-to-day can be an immense challenge at times, and as a new parent, you’ll no doubt be frequently plagued by the thought, “Am I doing everything right?”.
While no one gets everything right (as this is, of course, part of being a parent), there are certainly some fundamental aspects that you should have down from the beginning. In this short article, we’re going to go through three of them.
Creating Routine
Developing a solid routine for your child is one of the best things you can do to foster a much-needed sense of stability. Every child needs to feel safe and secure, and amongst other aspects like a loving home with protective parents, a big part of that comes from a predictable lifestyle: this means going to bed and getting up at the same time, having periods allocated for doing homework, and setting boundaries on time spent on certain activities.
With a basic framework like this in place, you make room for the fun, spontaneous things in your kid’s life whilst ensuring they’re grounded in the right areas.
Instilling Habits of Personal Care
The quality of a child’s upbringing determines many things, and a crucial core element is that you’re slowly building them up for life as an adult.
This is where fostering the development of personal habits comes in. Be sure to teach the fundamentals, such as how to bathe, brush their teeth properly (as well as maintaining regular visits to the dentist), and how to dress and brush their hair.
You’ll often find children thrive in playing ‘adult’, so lean into this where you can – teach this stuff early so that it becomes ingrained as an automatic part of their routine, and you’ll prevent problems later.
Proper Exercise and Nutrition
The consequences of neglecting physical exercise and a good diet are something we’re all familiar with, but with children, it’s even more important. Not only are health and fitness a key part of their physical development, but kids are highly susceptible to picking up your habits.
For this reason, it’s important to make healthy meals and regular exercise part of family life – not just something you apply to the children. As is the case with any of this stuff, try to make it fun: get your kids to help you cook, or head off to the local park a few times a week for a runabout. These opportunities are also excellent ways of bonding.
There’s far more that goes into raising children than any article, book, or lecture could possibly delve into, but by taking it one step at a time, you’ll get there in the end. You can only ever learn through experience, but hopefully, this article has offered some tips for where to put your energy if you’re feeling a bit lost. Get the basics down first, and you’ll find that everything else falls into place: all you need is a little time and effort.