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Home » Parenting

My parenting priorities

Monday, 21 August 2006 Comments »

I've been pondering my priorities for parenting my kids. You know, what is really important to me. Just to get them out of the way, here are the "duh" obvious ones:

  • Keeping them physically safe
  • Helping them stay healthy

But after that I've fixed on these, in this order:

  • Making sure my kids know they are loved and protected
  • Teaching them that the most important relationship right now is with their brothers. How wonderful and important it is that they have each other. How they are going to be brothers forever and that that is a special gift not everyone gets.

That last one is so important to me. I didn't grow up with any siblings my age, and I want my kids to have the blessing of contemporaries who know them from the inside out.

At this point they are young enough that I can just make it an expectation of mine that they will get along and love each other. I don't give them any other options. Fortunately, this seems to be working, and I know I'm fortunate with that. Mike and Robbie are each other's best friend. My current challenge is to work Chip into the mix, but with his age that is trickier.

They love Chip too, but since he's not as physical or verbal as they are yet, playing with him is more of an effort. I'm happy to say that they do make an effort to include him in games sometimes, so I see that as a positive sign.

It just makes me so happy to see them all playing together. I hope to be able to give them the gift of always being close.

  • MamaDuck said:

    Awwww. They are so sweet!! Great blog!

    21 August 2006 at 4:44 pm
  • Oh, The Joys said:

    I wasn't close to my brother during our childhood, but I SO HOPE Owen and Ruby will be close.

    21 August 2006 at 6:19 pm
  • Plain Jane Mom said:

    Thanks, MamaDuck!

    Oh, The Joys: I always wonder what we can do to help foster that sibling bond. I know that some think it 'just happens' but I really wonder about that…

    21 August 2006 at 7:27 pm
  • tiffany said:

    This is awesome. My parents instilled this in us at a very early age. There weren't many (any?) rules in our house growing up, except: Be Excellent To Each Other. Now that we're grown I can see that it really made a difference. We don't always agree but we're very important to each other… this is something I really hope to pass along to my boys too.

    26 August 2006 at 6:27 am
  • Plain Jane Mom said:

    Tiffany, I've got to try the Be Excellent rule — I like it! It seems to cover a lot of ground. Teasing, hitting, pushing ;) I didn't grow up with siblings, so all this is new to me! It is just amazing how they find new things every day to pester each other with.

    This is why one of the few things Chip actually says is "Go WAY Robbie!!" Sigh… Why can't he learn more of the good things his big brothers do!

    30 August 2006 at 9:49 pm

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