Tag Archives: fatherhood

Top 5 things TO do around young children

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These little sponges take up a lot in a little amount of time. Show them the world.

Take them to the library, the bookstore, the zoo, a museum

This could be a post entitled take them anywhere, so use your judgment when determining where your children go.  But the point being, expose them to what the world has to offer.  There are tons of free child events that happen in your town, take them.   Not just for their sake, but for yours as well.  Just don’t forget the snacks/diapers.

Play with them

Dedicate time at home to play with them.  It doesn’t have to be for long, but let your child know that you care about them and them only, and not have it attached to an event outside of the home.

Love yourself

I know it sounds weird to talk about yourself in a post dedicated to children.  But really, love yourself.  Love where you are in life, love what you do for your children and don’t beat yourself up for not being perfect.  Because life happens.  Because if you have a strong, healthy love of yourself, your children will have a strong healthy love of themselves.  It starts from the teacher.  Teach them by living the example you want them to emulate.

Read to them

It’s self-explanatory, but a child who has been read to at an early age, becomes a child who loves to read.  Show them that reading is cool, and worthwhile and important.  Don’t raise your child to the Ipad.  I know it’s cool to see your 3 month old baby unlock your computer and turn on their game, but it’s even cooler to see your 2 year old child pick up a book and read because he knows how and because mommy and daddy have read to him since he was born.

Give them a hug/Give them a kiss

Young children have emotions too.  Show them that you love them by hugging them when they wake up, when you drop them off at daycare/school, when you pick them up and when you put them to bed.  Hug them when they do something they are really proud of, hug them when they accomplish a goal they set for themselves, hug them when they don’t expect it.  The same goes for the kiss.

So here is my list of things you should do around children. What do you think?  Did I leave out anything important?  If so add it to the list in the comments section!

Top 5 things you should NOT do when around young children

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So this past weekend as I was feeding my 1 year old daughter, I was reminded of what not to do as I forgot to change out of my crisp white shirt into something more worn.  Of course not only did the shirt get completely soiled, but so did my pants, shoes and somehow, bits of my hair had gotten food on them.   So here is my list of what NOT to do when around these glorious little beings.   I hate lists, but such is life.

Curse

Of course everyone KNOWS not to curse in front of small children, but do you really know why?  It’s not because they will curse.  Every parent knows that eventually children will grow up and use a curse word or two, or three, or ten.  But it’s because these little sponges will embarrass you in front of other people before the legal curse age limit.  Ever heard a 1, 2, or 3 year old spout off curse words in inappropriate times, without context, and to other people?  Yeah, it’s embarrassing.  Don’t be that parent of that child.  Not only will other people look at you and question your parenting skills, but they will look at your children and judge them too.

Be on your laptop/IPad/smartphone all the time

It’s hard to get away from the screen, I know, I know.  But when you are in your child’s presence and you are not required to do work, do not use that time to go check Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Linkedin, Vine, Gmail, etc., etc., etc.  I swear I can’t even keep up with all of them anymore, it’s too much.  But use this time to face to face play an activity with your children. You are your child’s first teacher.   I swear they will appreciate that more than you sitting them on your lap or leaving them on the floor to check the internet.  Because this is what you look like.  And yes, I’m judging you.

Wear white, or anything that you actually like

This should actually be called ‘any of your clothes’ but I know some people would do a double-take if I said be naked around your children.  But parents of small children know what I’m talking about.  Don’t you really just want to be naked around your children all the time???  Except for the fact that they might be traumatized later by loose images of mommy and daddy’s body, I swear a majority of us would just not wear clothes.  Because it seems like every time you go to put on that favorite (insert piece of clothing here) no matter what you do, it gets messed up just before you go to work, a luncheon, church, a date anything.  Sometimes you don’t even need to hold said baby for the clothes to get messed up.  These babies are magicians.  They know how to mess up clothes from afar.

Forget snacks, drinks when you go out

Forget diapers/underwear/wipes when you go out

Everyone knows babies eat all the time.  So to neglect this small fact when you go out, even if you feed them before they leave, can sometimes be a travesty beyond compare.  Epic fallouts can happen, meltdowns from parents and children, and whatever you were doing immediately has to be shortened or you end up being that parent at that function.   DON’T. FORGET. SNACKS.   Just don’t.  Don’t also forget diapers/extra underwear.  I would make this a separate bullet point but the same can be said for both so it doesn’t need a reiteration of the same point.  Just don’t forget them.

Talk about grownup issues

*Raises hand* guilty over here.  I know it’s hard.  Sometimes conflicting schedules and busy lifestyles only permit those adult conversations to take place in the presence of children.  But if it can be avoided, please do.  I was raised in an era where adult conversations happened all around me.  It was definitely entertaining, and in doing that I developed an ear for listening instead of talking, but the downside of that was that I became privy to times when my parents struggled and times when they disagreed with each other and I internalized it.  As a child, the ramifications of that led me to believe we were worse off than we were, and that my parents absolutely hated each other.  So if you can avoid the heated debate in front of your children, do it.  For your sake and theirs.

(My parents did eventually get divorced, but I still believe the nuances of a relationship caused their rift apart, not an argument or two.)

Alright so here’s my list of things you shouldn’t do around children.  Got any to add to my list? If you do, drop me a line or two!