I have felt from the time that Livy was born (or even before that since I was addicted to parenting books years before she was born) that I want my children to have some pretty good habits under their belts. I have always felt that if we "train" our children or give them the knowledge that they need, they will grow to include these things in their daily lives. Sure, right now it is doing these future habits with mom, but I honestly feel that in the future when Livy is older, she will be able to do these things on her own.
I have also learned that if children see mom and dad doing things, they will most likely mimic. This goes for the good and the bad whether it is the kind of language we use, how we eat meals, whether we watch a lot of TV or read books. So if I want Livy to be a good reader, that means that I need to read to her daily and she needs to see me and Eduardo reading. Super easy, we are all book-worms. Or if I want Livy to eat a balanced diet I not only need to feed her healthy foods, but I also have to eat them myself.
So what habits are we working on?
Washing Faces--Since Livy was born (she is now 18 months) I try to wash her face with a damp wash cloth in the morning and at night, all in hopes that this will be a life long habit for her. I have always struggled with this myself and my skin shows it. I don't want this to be a battle with her when she is a teenager.
Brushing teeth at least twice a day--She still likes to bite down on the tooth brush, but it is a start.
Sunscreen--After reading a book that mentions the importance of using sunscreen on our faces daily, we've all heard it before, I want to start this habit with Livy now. I think that if I had been better with sunscreen as a child and teenager, that my skin would be in better condition. I do apply it to Livy whenever we head outside to play, but I think of the many times that I don't when we are running errands or a quick walk to grandma's. Perhaps this should be a part of our morning routine.
Praying before bed--we are a religious family and I want her to make this a part of her daily life. We are working on our evening prayers and hopefully can add on morning prayers as well.
What kinds of habits are you working on together as a family or with your children?
Livy, Sept 10 2008--in her U of U cheerleader outfit
Go Utes!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you on this! We brush Love Bug's teeth (she evens wants us to floss her teeth too if we are doing it) and we use sunscreen a lot, but with the strong Italian sun, she was still a little tan herself. We pray, but not enough- thanks for the reminder. We also read to her a lot, but I never thought about reading in front of her. I know I do, but not often.
ReplyDeleteThe other things we have her do are bringing her dishes to the sink, helping clean up her toys, and put her dirty clothes in the laundry hamper. Love Bug loves to help and she loves to clean, so it works well.
I so agree with the mimicking idea; I think we need to lead by example.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to get daughter to drink water with meals like I do (I tell her it makes your eyes sparkle), but husband sabotages my efforts by drinking juice, which of course, daughter then wants.
I am also a stickler for good table manners. My dad said that if we had good table manners at home, we would take them out with us and so far, I have never been ashamed to take daughter out to eat. Also, just as I did as a child, she has to ask "please may I leave the table?" at the end of a meal.
Hope I don't sound too draconian!
Speaking a calm pleasant tone of voice. We don't live in a soap opera and we don't have to shout to communicate.
ReplyDeleteSaying please and thank you (still surprises me that I don't say this enough).
Hand washing. Lots of fun - that's easy.
Tooth brushing.
Saying hello and goodbye to people. There's no point making an issue of this with a shy child, but I love hearing her say hello and bye-bye when she enters and leaves shops and houses.
Without any guidance from us she'll pick Recaro's clothes up off the floor and put them in the wash basket. That's a very cool trick that I'd like her to keep up (her own clothes, not R's of course!)