We’ve been dissecting each of the Mi-Resolutions 1by1. Have you been reading them? Taking the challenges? We are a fourth of the way through 2014 – are you reaching your goals? Our first resolution was to “Tell yourself that you DON’T haveta stick to your SCHEDULE,” but we also talked about how effective scheduling can be when trying to reach goals. Goals like deciding “you LIKE LEARNING new things.” Many told us they found a new love for learning when diving into topics their kids were interested in – or trying out new hobbies they themselves had an interest in, but no prior experience. Keep us posted on how your goals are going …leave us a comment below with what new activities you’ve tried this year! Share new recipes that you’ve tried and old family favorite foods, since another resolution was to “allow yourself to eat your FAVORITE FOODS!” Create new resolutions and tell us what they are!
8×10 worksheet
How’s that food resolution working out for you? Statistics tell us that most resolutions are based on foods and exercise. Have you found time to focus on your family’s health? Have you made “time to ENJOY EXERCISE” like we discussed in the last article? Is it easier to make time for yourself to work out – or as a family? I find it easier to make the time as a family – because it’s more fun! We have found a fun way to encourage each other with challenges and build crazy obstacle courses both indoors and outdoors. Snow-shoe obstacles are a hit ~ but we’re hoping that since it’s spring we won’t need to do those again til’ next winter! We are starting to plan our spring schedule… Making time for health and happiness:
During any / every exercise / activity our focus has to be safety. I have two lil’ guys who keep us going and I don’t wanta be going to the hospital!!! My 7 year old has some physical delays / coordination issues and we aren’t sure if they are a result from nerves after accidents or if they caused the accidents. Either way we don’t want another trip to the E.R again with knocked in teeth or a broken arm or foot… I’m just waiting for those trips with my 6 yr old who seems to somehow manage to never get seriously hurt – despite being our 100mile-an-hr-man. He’s a no-fear-explorer who climbed up on the counter and jumped off before he could even walk! Decades of experience working with foster kids…working as a teacher…working as a caregiver… didn’t prepare me for the heart stopping moment’s that only parents experience ~ out of fear that their child can be hurt. Even working as the emergency tech for a summer-camp didn’t prepare me for dealing with my own kids emergencies. When you are on the job you think with your brain, when you are the parent you think with your heart.
printable safety template
I know some feel we over protect our boys. I admit – I’d bubble wrap my kids before sending them onto a playground set if I could! But I’m ok with being paranoid – because I know that my paranoia has prevented some accidents! Yes – it’s a part of life to fall off your bike to learn to ride it, but that doesn’t mean one should send their kid on a 2wheeler into the street w/o a helmet! You take baby steps. You learn to ride a trike before a bike. (Most) babies crawl before they walk ~ and when they start that crawling stage you should make sure your house is child-proof. Before even the child-proofing time there are safety measures to consider. The hospital won’t even let you take your baby home until you have a proper car-seat for their safe travels. Some hospitals give parents handouts with safety information. Many are starting to send home information on safe sleep for your infant. Please consider safer-sleep options for your baby. After watching two babies pass away from SIDS I offer a safer-sleep training for parents/providers. Giving CPR to an infant is one reason I am a paranoid parent. “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger” is not always accurate – but it can make you smarter – it can make you more preventative and proactive in the future.
print and use
Parenting is often about being preventative and proactive. No – I can’t bubble wrap my kids – and I shouldn’t! But I should keep an eye on them when they are learning new skills. I should teach them safety measures about wearing helmets when riding bikes and how to get out in a fire and why we don’t talk to strangers… Teaching safety doesn’t mean we teach them to live in fear – we teach them how to be confident in themselves and who to ask for help when needed… We teach them that we are parents (or providers) who will always be there to help them and guide them and teach them… and PLAY with them. Through play we learn a different set of parenting skills for being preventative and proactive… we learn how to teach our children about health and safety issues through role-playing. We learn about our child’s social/emotional development. We can learn to predict triggers for behaviors we want to change such as tantrums and sharing. We learn about how our child learns and can use play to teach hands on skills. Learning begins before birth and lasts a lifetime ~ teach your kids to never stop learning by focusing on our last resolution of being “the PARENT (or provider) who PLAYS with the kids.” Never stop learning, laughing and loving. Make a resolution today to be the FUN FAM!
(More about becoming the FUN FAM during in our next article…so subscribe by signing up on towards the top right of this page)
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