All About Parenting Blog Carnival: Parenting Resolutions
Saturday January 3, 2009
This month's All About Parenting Blog Carnival is up for your reading pleasure. The focus is oh-so-timely: New Year's resolutions. Not just any old resolutions, though. Because you know when you're a parent, it stops being all about you and those last 10 pounds or stopping all that nasty nail biting. After you have kids, you begin to make changes to your life that include them as well. If this is your first year as a parent, it might be the first time that you make a resolution to do something that isn't just about bettering yourself just for you.
My son was a November baby, so when January rolled around he was still just a wee little guy. I thought about getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight and finishing nursery decorating. And then it hit me. I needed to start putting away money for my son's future. I needed to make sure the house was childproofed from top to bottom. I needed to start reading to him more. My mind just overflowed with all the things that I needed to do for him. It was both frightening and exciting. And I realized for the umpteenth time since he'd been born how having him in my life was making me want to be the best person I could be. How has your child impacted your New Year's resolutions this year?
Comments
My children are grown and doing well.
One of my viewpoints always was “I owe everything to them, it was not their choice.”
But, a great deal of what I owed them was getting them ready to leave the nest and fly on their own. I see too many parents today who seem to think that their children owe them. And, frankly, that view takes you nowhere.
Make a resolution to remember that you owe your child everything that you want for them. That includes preparing them for leaving the nest and flying on their own, as mine are.
The child owes you nothing, they did not have a choice.