When I was in school to become a teacher, almost every class I took wanted us to come up with our teaching philosophy. As though stringing together a few words might help us to get a job or teach students English. The hardest thing about making up a philosophy based on something you're not actually doing yet is just that... you don't know what you are doing. While I have only been a parent for close to two years, I already have a parenting philosophy, and it is this: If I have an opportunity to spend time with my kid, I do it. If she seeks out doing something with me, I put whatever else I'm doing on hold, and do it with her. (Short of, you know, going to the bathroom or burning dinner.) Nothing else is more important.
My kid wants to read a book? The computer is closed and we're reading a book. I never really played with dolls as a kid or expected to just have a family when I "grew up"; so maybe that makes me more appreciative of my daughter. Yes, sometimes she watches cartoons while I make dinner, but sometimes she watches me cook instead. She likes learning about new things and "helping". I know that not everyone gets to stay home with their kids (or even wants to, for that matter), but when I am home, I choose to be with my kid. I kiss her all the time (probably too much). She knows that she is smart and special. Everything in my house can't be spotless all the time; or ever, maybe. That's o.k.
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| Just a corner of our living room What it comes down to: Things are as easy or complex as you make them. Choose to be awesome; you chose to be a parent, so you can choose to be a good one. Take a fresh start every day. Not everything will get done every day. That is what tomorrow is for. Messes are ok. Soap exists.  |
