10 Parenting Tips Learned From My Children

Before I give you advice on how to parent your children, let me clarify a few important details.  I’ve already raised two children to adulthood and am currently raising a 2 ½ year old grandson.  That sentence alone should speak volumes. 

First, obviously something went awry if I’m raising a grandchild.  Second, I’ve got more experience with raising kids than just the toddler that I always blog about.  Experience has a way of teaching you more things that don’t work than things that do work.

And without further ado, here are my 10 parenting tips: 

1. Have lots of cheap or second hand clothes.  You may change your child’s clothes more times in a day than you ever knew possible.  Dirt has a way of attaching itself to your child’s clothing and every inch of your child. 
2. Have a sense of humor.  That should really be self-explanatory, but as a first time parent (23 years ago) that wasn’t the case.  Not everything they do is a predictor of future criminal activity or a sign of being a social misfit. 
3. Don’t worry.  Worry is a waste of time and gets you nowhere.  Whether you worry about your child or not, whatever is meant to happen is gonna happen.  Worrying will not keep your child from falling out of his highchair, or tripping on an invisible shoe on the floor.  If worrying was an effective protective barrier, none of my mothers children or grandchildren would ever have been injured.
4. Live close to a good Emergency Department.  Now that I’ve told you not to worry, I’m telling you to live close to a hospital.  Accidents will happen; some of them will be humorous in hindsight, others will be serious, but the majority will be minor. 
5. Don’t try to go anywhere in a hurry.  Its absolutely a waste of time.  You’ll end up taking longer than if you had gone with an attitude of patience.  Easier said than done, I know.  But it is possible.  I’m living proof; with the first two my life was always rush, rush, rush.  Now I’ve got a few more years behind me, and I know to start preparing early and to allow lots of extra time for mishaps or simply for stopping to smell the roses.  Plus, you’ll all be happier when you get wherever it was that you were going.
6. Enjoy your time with your children.  They are going to be young and exasperating only once and then you blink and they are full grown adults.  Take the time to enjoy them and their personalities.  I’m not suggesting that you enjoy the dirty diapers and sleepless nights, I’m simply suggesting that you enjoy their company as they grow faster than you could ever imagine.
7. Be prepared to give up a bit of yourself.  As a young (19) first-time mother, I thought that when I had a child I could be a mom when I was with him and then be a bar-hopping-social-butterfly when I was out with friends.  Not so at all.  I once spent a fair sum of money to come home from Europe a week early because I missed my son so much.  Your life will never be the same again, never.  A piece of your heart is inside every child.
8. Don’t expect quality moments to happen during quality time.  Quality moments happen during quantity time.  Stay at home moms around the world can attest to that fact.  Children need their parents’ time more than they need their parents’ money.
9. Be consistent.  When you say that you’re going to put them in a time-out if they throw something one more time, follow through.  Be fair, but also be consistent. Be reasonable but consistent.  Children then know what to expect if they behave in a particular manner and children need boundaries.
10. Shoes are not required.  This means that you do not need to protect your child from every possible danger in the world.  This also means that we, as parents, need to relax and let our child feel the warm grass beneath their feet in the summer sun.

These tips are somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but also very serious.  I am by no means a parenting expert, but these are some things I have learned on the journey called mommy-hood.