New Year’s Motivation – Be a Better Parent
Here is the 4th post in our New Year’s Motivation series. For most people, parenting is a big part of our lives and all of us want to be a better parent to our children. As the mother of two sons and stepmother to a third, I think I have a bit of experience in this area. Not that I’m any expert – we have plenty of challenges, even now that they are all adults. But if anything, I’m an out-of-the-box thinker, so maybe I can come up with some parenting ideas you might not have thought of.
Here are some of the challenges we’ve had to becoming a better parent and the parenting solutions we’ve come up with to deal with them.
Bullying
My youngest son had some major bullying issues, so here are some of the ideas I came up with that might help with this horrible problem. Ideas that might help stop bullying. Bullying is one of the main problems these kids are worried about, so part of being a better parent is coming up with some ideas to help them deal with the problem.
Sibling Rivalry and sibling fighting can cross the line into bullying and that can be really hard on BOTH of your kids – so here’s a post that might help – Sibling Rivalry vs. Bullying.
Dealing with ADHD Kids
Two of my three sons struggled with ADHD and motivation issues, so I have a couple of posts that I found helpful to deal with issues.
Homework was always our BIGGEST struggle, so this post was very helpful for us and has been one of my most popular post on the topic – Organizing the Disorganized or ADHD Kid.
I think pretty much ALL kids deal with overuse of video games and electronic devices, but boys more than girls, and ADHD kids much more than non-ADHD kids. So, this is my post on Managing Teen Boys and their Beloved Electronics. I think this is going to be a much more significant problem than we’ve ever realized, so this is definitely a topic worth paying attention to for all good parents.
Adult Kids and Money
I have been extremely fortunate that my grown kids are extremely self-sufficient and rarely ask me about money, but I have lots of friends who really struggle with their adult kids using them as a piggy bank. So, here are a couple of posts on the topic of setting boundaries and teaching them some money management strategies:
When my stepson told me his 10-year-old van was dying, we came up with some good solutions to provide some genuine help for his situation WITHOUT me having to spend a dime. Help Your Adult Kids Manage their Finances.
This is another boundaries setting post about dealing with entitled adult kids who need a little nudge out of the nest (or at least a mandate to clean up the nest once in a while!). What Do We OWE Our Adult Kids? Here’s another one about rule setting with the adult kids living in your house – Dealing with Adult Children Living at Home
Kids and Cleaning
Speaking of kids and cleaning – after homework, chores were always our second battle, so are two of my MOST popular posts regarding kids and cleaning – Teach Your Teen to Clean and How Does Clutter Affect Your Kids.
Positive Parenting Posts
Just so you don’t think raising teens and young adults is all gloom and doom, I’ve got some good news for you. Teens can really be a LOT of fun. I am a Scout leader and I work with two different groups of Christian teens, so I spend a considerable amount of time working with kids ages 12 to 18 and I really enjoy them. When you approach them with a little respect and appreciation, they can be great fun to be around. Here are some posts about enjoying your own kids and other people’s kids too.
Teens and Volunteer Service – obviously, I am a big fan of volunteer service and I have imparted this value to my sons and even my grandkids.
Do you Think Your Teen is Awesome? What you think about them matters more deeply than you’d think.
Well, that’s it – this is the end of my motivational series. I hope these posts that I’ve been sharing have been helpful for you. There are plenty more where these came from.
Here are the links to the earlier posts in the series.
Here are my previous posts in the series:
Awesome post!!! I will definitely be clicking through and reading through your series of posts 🙂
Thank you. I appreciate your visiting. I’ve been enjoying your posts as well.
Great post! I’m really glad you posted about dealing with bullying. Thank you!
You are very welcome! It’s a cause that is near and dear to my heart.