6 Parenting Principles We Live By

When we first became parents, we basically knew nothing about raising children. As young adults, neither one of us had spent much time around children or if we’re being honest, had much interest in them for that matter. Although we planned to have kids one day, Cash was a complete surprise for us. Like so many parents, we were quickly thrust into a role we knew so little about. But we did feel a strong desire to learn as and research as much as we could along the way. We are by no means experts, but we have found what works for us. Our intention with the following information below is to provide inspriatiojn and motivation to others to find what works for them.

1 | Childhood isn’t meant to be a race

It’s so natural for us to compare our children to others. We’ve definitely done it. It’s almost impossible to not take notice if your baby is pacing ahead or behind the other babies around you. But putting expectations on your growth child can lead to unneeded stress and worry. Instead to try to be attentive to the needs of each individual child and resist putting expectations on them to be what they’re not. No two children develop in the same way, nor do they develop at the same rhythm.

2 | Become a storyteller

It is said that Einstein once said “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” Neither one of us are naturally great storytellers. It’s something we’ve worked at and improved on. Watching our chidlren light up when we tell them a story is enough reward to keep trying. Something that we have been taught by the school we send our children to is that there is a difference between tell a story and reading a story. Storytelling provides the teller the opportunity to give more to the story. Reading a story can sometimes lack of personality or feeling. While the stories we tell are still memorized, once it is committed to memory, it allows us the freedom to make the story our own, to connect with our children during the telling, and to tell the story with joy. Reading a story from a book does not allow for this. Ultimately this allows us to connect deeper with our children while also allowing them to builds their imagination.

Making up stories can be difficult but it gets easier with time. Think of the simple stories you remember from your childhood and tell your kids about those. Going through the story before you tell it will make the storytelling experience more fulfilling for both you and your child. The good thing with young children is that they appreciate repeated stories so they’ll be happy with the same story for a while.

3 | Connect with nature every day

Physical activity not only helps kids thrive, it also spurs their creativity. Helping our kid connect with nature means teaching them to be more attentive to the world around him. It means teaching them to take the time to smell the flowers and observe the different things and people in his environment. Nature also has a calming effect on children.
No matter where you live, there are boundless opportunities to connect with nature: smell flowers, pick flowers, collect pebbles, take pictures of insects, pick leaves, paint or draw still life objects, play with sticks, build forts, dig, play with sand, scavenger hunts, etc.

4 | Teach your kids to play

This is something that has proven to be so valuable to our family. We do not have “media” in our home. Meaning, our children do not watch TV, tablets, or phones. So instead, they find other ways to play. As a result, the simplest toys can foster the greatest creativity in them. We prefer simple natural toys because when toys are simple and open-ended, they spark children’s creativity because children can then use their imagination to create other objects from them. Some of our children’s favorite toys are pinecones, shells, acorns, yarn, silk rags and handkerchiefs, sticks and branches, wooden blocks, acorns, stones, cardboard etc.

5 | Establish Rhythms

Rhythms are not to be confused with a rigid schedule. To us, rhythms are about establishing a regular routine that your child becomes familiar with. It does not mean that you can’t have flexibility and exceptions, but it does make the day more predictable for their young minds. Children, like the rest of us, handle change best if it is expected and occurs in the context of a familiar routine. A predictable routine allows children to feel safe, and to develop a sense of mastery in handling their lives. As this sense of mastery is strengthened, they can tackle larger changes: walking to school by themselves, paying for a purchase at the store, going to sleepaway camp…

6 | Make room for art

There’s so many benefits to providing your children the opportunity to create art. For us, some of the obvious ones are the way it calms them down. Our oldest son uses it as a form of therapy when he gets upset or angry. When he is able to recognize it, he now excuses himself from the situation and finds paper and something to draw with and sits quietly. usually for about an hour. He began doing this at around 7. Beyond that, art has allowed our children to explore colors, imagination, and a sense of accomplishment. For us, neither of us are amazing artists or consider ourselves naturally artistic. Still, we both enjoy it and find it therapeutic and have reconnected with art ourselves through doing it with our children.

We’d also love to hear from all of you, what are some of your parenting principles?