Lessons From A New Mama

"Lead by example..." I don't know if your parent ever used this one on you, but it's my Dad's go to phrase. It's something I have been thinking a lot about now that Jackson's here. Parenting is so much about settings good example for your kids. I know that a lot of my parenting philosophies and a lot of who I am personally are a result of how my parents raised me. Therefore, I have some examples that I for sure want to set for Jackson.

1) Reading anything and everything. My friend Emily has a little boy and he loves books. He will sit quietly by himself for the longest time and just look at his books. Since he loves them so much he has mini libraries all over their house so that way books are available to him. I love this idea! There was a study recently showing that parents who read in their free time are more likely to have children who like to read. A lot of it has to do with them copying what their parents are doing but still they end up loving to read. Now in today's world of technology books are becoming obsolete and since I'm not planning on buying Jackson an e-reader any time soon I have packed away my nook and have gone paperback! I did this because I want him to enjoy BOOKS, to practice holding them properly, turning the pages etc. So, I'm leading this example by having books myself...I have to admit I've kind of missed them.

2) One thing that I remember most growing up was family dinner time. My mom was always in the kitchen cooking up something new to try some were good like eggplant lasagna and some were epic fails like veggie burgers ( sorry if you like them I'm not a fan). It wasn't just the family meal though that I remember it was the quality of the food. My mom and dad always made sure that we had a healthy me with as many of the food group represented that they could manage. My dad was always a stickler about healthy food choices for snacks and even when we would go out for dinner we generally made wise choices. Now I do have to admit as I got older and was able to decide for myself what to eat I didn't always stick to my roots, but now with Jackson I want him to experience healthy foods the way I did growing up. Now I'm not saying that we won't splurge and give him chicken fingers or pizza, but I do want those to be as few as I can manage. To link this back to my topic of monkey see monkey do...if I make healthy choices for meals/snacks maybe he will too.

3) I have not always enjoyed exercise, especially if it's hot outside...yuck! However, I also believe that inactivity with children is a learned behavior. If kids see their parents just bummin in front of the tv or just hanging out in front of their computer or phone then kids are going to do the same with tv and video games. So, I want Jackson to be healthy an active which means that I need to show him how. If that means I have to lay on the floor and play peek a boo for a hour, take the dog on a million walks during the week, or dance around our kitchen like an idiot then that's what I will do. I want him to see that there is more to the world than our living room and tv.

Out for a nature walk at the River House

4) It doesn't get much better than family...the are there for you no matter what! I want to make sure that Jackson has the same strong family foundation that Jason and I both had with our families growing up. We want to definitely have rules and boundaries, but we also want him to be able to come to us for answers, and support.


I know there is a lot more that I need to model for my son so that he grows up to be a wonderful young man...but that's where I'm going to start! Any parenting philosophies you got from your parents you want to share?