There’s nothing quite like the feeling of holding your newborn child in your hands for the first time. The sense of wonder at this quotidian miracle and the powerful sense that your life will never be the same again. All your previous concerns and occupations seem somehow trivial in hindsight. Your job, your career, your hobbies and even your bank balance can seem utterly inconsequential. The only thing that matters is taking care of this tiny, beautiful, miraculous little person… Whoever the heck they are.
All parents become suffused with love for their children. Sometimes this occurs instantly, for other parents it takes a little while (and that’s totally, totally fine). All parents know the all-consuming need to take the best possible care of their kids. However, sometimes we can find ourselves going about it in the wrong ways. Here are some of the most powerful ways in which you can take care of your children (and help them to take care of themselves).
This is a contributed post and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Meet The Harris Family.
Find your way to work / life balance
All families are working as hard as they can to find their way to financial freedom, paying off their debts while saving for their future. These are all admirable goals but it’s nonetheless important for parents to, between them, find a modicum of work / life balance so that they get to spend some quality time with their kids. Of course, this is far easier said than done. All parents need to learn the fine art of prioritizing their time and getting the most out of their every waking moment in order to balance their work and career commitments with their obligations to the tiny people they’ve created. This article from Forbes has some useful tips on achieving work life balance.
Keep them well fed
“Well, of course!” You’re probably thinking, but well fed doesn’t mean simply ensuring that your kids have enough to eat. In an age where the temptation of genetically modified highly processed foods seems ever present it’s more important to educate your kids about food. This goes way beyond encouraging your kids to eat their fresh fruits and veggies (although that’s also a big part of it). It’s about teaching your kids where food comes from, why their bodies need key nutrients and what happens when they don’t get them. It means teaching your kids about farming, the impact industrialized farming has on the environment and the importance of making ethical choices when it comes to the food they eat. It also means cooking with your kids and ensuring that they grow up with a valuable life skill that will allow them to take control of their health and wellbeing. Speaking of which…
Make sure that they have access to the right healthcare
When kids are active and well nourished their bodies tend to look after themselves. However, due to accidents, genetics or simple bad luck sometimes your child may have need of more robust healthcare. If you live in a country with free healthcare like the UK or Canada you may assume that this will be enough to meet the whole family’s needs, but this may not always be the case. Read more from www.insurdinary.ca to find out why even those who live in countries with universal healthcare might benefit from medical insurance.
Play with them
It’s a given, but it’s also astonishing how many parents you see not taking the time to play with their kids and letting their toys or digital devices do all the heavy lifting. Playing with your kids teaches them social skills, co-operation, sharing, empathy and imagination. What’s more, when you play with your kids you feel the years fall away and it helps you to feel younger too.
Show them how money works as early as possible
In an uncertain political and economic climate, we can never know for sure how the financial land may lie by the time our kids grow up. As such, it’s important to teach your kids about money, its value and its importance as soon as possible. At worst it will help them to understand why they can’t have exactly what they want all the time (more on that shortly), at best it will help them to make better financial choices in adulthood. Some great ways to show your kids how money works include;
- Use cash whenever shopping with your kids
- Let them play with real money rather than a plastic facsimile
- Let them in on family conversations about money and budgeting
- Give them pocket money by all means but give them a responsibility in return
- Incentivize them to save their money by matching what they save
Tell them “no”
Apologies, Sir Elton. But sorry is not the hardest word to say… At least not when you have kids. Often when you’re raising a child the hardest word to say is “no”. Parents don’t like to say “no” if they can possibly help it, and while it comes from a noble instinct it can also be counterproductive.
We all want to give our kids a better life than we had at their age. We all want to see our kids’ faces light up with joy when we give them what they want. But while the odd indulgence is perfectly fine, kids gain nothing in the long term when we spoil them. Check out this great article on when and how to say “no” to your kids.
Take the time to remind them how lucky they are
“That’s not fair!” It’s a phrase that’s often uttered with child-like indignation (even if those who say it grew up a long time ago). The sad truth is that children born into a world of privilege (as many children are in the developed world today) often use the phrase “That’s not fair” interchangeably with “That’s not what I want to happen”. The world is often a sadly inequitable place, and there are some poignant ways in which we can remind our children of this.
Volunteering at charities, homeless shelters or community outreach programs every once in a while can help to show them just how unfair life has been to others and teach them that those who are privileged have a responsibility to help those less fortunate than themselves. This will not only help to build character, it will remind them of just how lucky they are to live the life they take for granted.
Some are obvious, some are less so, but those are some of the most powerful ways in which you can take care of your little ones.
