BECOME A BETTER PARENT OVERNIGHT

5 EASY ADJUSTMENTS TO UPDATE YOUR PARENTING STYLE

Every parent wants to believe they are the best parent they can be. It’s no mystery that often times that means we set ourselves on a course toward a parenting style that is the OPPOSITE of the way we ourselves were parented, and often accompanied with the vow that, “I refuse to be like my mother!” or “I will NEVER be like my father!”  When in fact, our parenting styles should NOT be patterned after Mom or Dad, nor patterned to be the opposite of Mom or Dad, and our parenting styles should definitely NOT be patterned after current social trends or peer pressure fads, i.e. “you aren’t a good parent if you aren't making your own organic baby food,” or “if your child is not on the waiting list for a certain academy by the age of 6 months…” Social Media does not a good parent make! 

God makes good parents. 

After all, it is He who gifted you with your child in first place....

TODDLER NEGOTIATIONS __Because I said so...

So, you have a toddler. 

A small person tumbling around your house, probably causing havoc and making utterances only extra terrestrials and maybe other siblings in your household can translate. A small person in the making, coming into an understanding of what it means to be human; what benefits he or she has because he or she is your offspring, or maybe hand selected royalty. 

You are the proud parent of A TODDLER. 

Most of us can’t actually remember our toddler-hood. Oddly, my most ancient memory is the day I turned 3 years old. I remember toddling along the back fence in my back yard on my third birthday singing to a self-made tune, “I’m three! I’m three!” But for the most part we don’t particularly remember our toddler years, and for a good reason. We were DIFFICULT! Most toddlers are difficult! And today’s culture pressures a new mama...

When Your Infant Owns You

“I put my infant on a schedule.” 

How many times have I heard young mothers make this statement.  And my response is usually filled with deep compassion as I chuckle under my breath, “Good luck with that!” So, what’s wrong with a schedule?… you may ask, (please ask or I will be writing this blog just to hear my fingers click against the keys.  

Firstly, let’s look at what SCHEDULE means: To put one’s day to day activities on a time table. Or, arrange or plan an event to take place at a particular time…according to the clock! 
Ladies, our babies were not born with an embedded timer.

Because I Dreamed

Juju.  It's a name given to me by toddlers who couldn't pronounce "Judy". It's a name.  Not a belief, not a practice of witchcraft, or voodoo. It's a name...that stuck. I am Juju. I am a grandma.  And when I became a grandma I didn't feel worthy of grandma status. Grandmas have gray hair. Grandmas have facial hair. Grandmas wear corsets, and braziers, and have false teeth. Grandmas are awesome! So all my grandkids, and many others who love me, now refer to me as Juju. I am Juju, and there's nothing that warms my soul quite like hearing that. 

When my eldest grandchild, Reese, was 4 years old I remember the day we were attempting to explain to him the family structure. "I am your Mommy's mommy", I said. "That makes me your grandma".  
"No!" he rebutted, "I don't have a grandma, I have a Juju!"  He is 9 now, and I recently heard him explaining the family structure to the youngest members of our clan, "she's Juju, but she really is our grandma." 
As quaint as this may be, to me it brings up the dilemma of aging.  Aging when you aren't really ready for it. Aging into "grandma". Aging into a body that surely must belong to someone else... unfamiliar, awkward, baggy, saggy, uncooperative, with weird hair and spotted skin, other-worldly moans and groans, and strange noises from the digestive tract. Just-yesterday-I was-30 kind of madness, and now 5 not so little offspring of my offspring call me Their Juju! Yikes! How did this happen so fast?! Why does it feel like I skipped ahead, spacing out an entire eon of my life?  What happened to my dreams? My bucket list? The things God promised me? (I have a dream book, you know.)