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Welcome and thanks for stopping by our roundup today, where we have spun our way around the web to bring you some great information and resources on parenting.
We are going to start today with the parent part of parenting.
Yes, I’m talking to you, all of you parents, who will do anything for your kids, but blanche at the thought of taking two hours out of a year for yourself.
A crucial and often overlooked piece of parenting is self-care, taking time just for you.
To operate at your best, you need to refresh yourself, to refill at the well.
After all, how can you give if you are empty?
Michael Hyatt, Chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers, writes about making small, incremental changes in our lives.
From my parenting perspective, that not only helps us be a happier, more fulfilled person, but teaches our children by direct example.
The Power of Incremental Change over Time
Earnest Parenting discusses the forgotten art of hobbies, and how picking them up is another way to take a dip in the just-for-the-fun of-it-pool
The Process: Determining the Best Way to De-Stress with a hobby
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My next offering comes from the blog 168 Hours: You have more time than you think and begins with this gem:
I have a confession to make: I have TomTom tendencies.
I feel the need to stand over my children calling out directions like a GPS.
Oh, my gosh. How many of you see yourself? I did, and I have heard versions of this over the years from my girls.
Ow. Ow. Ow.
Read it.
Are you a Tom-Tom Mom (or Dad)?
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And last, but certainly not least, is a newly discovered blog for me, truly a treasure chest full of wonderfulness, and a blast from our past. The blog is Positive Discipline: Creating Respectful Relationships in Homes and Schools, by Jane Nelson, who is also the author of the amazing book Positive Discipline. We discovered this book when our girls were young and we were very un-practiced parents. We found lots of solid, usable information and techniques that worked. I highly recommend her book and blog.
A recent post of hers about time out spaces caught my eye, as the “time out” was a technique we used often. I love the story relayed by a parent about her daughter’s custom designed space:
I helped Clare cut out the box and she painted the top half, glued spring wrapping paper on the bottom half and then she painted in flower stalks and grass to which she added stickers of flowers, bugs and butterflies. Once dry we took it up to her room and she added some cushions to put on the floor. She pretended to be angry and said ‘I need to have some time in my Spring corner Mum’ she put on her Meditation CD and asked me to leave the room! (I stood at her door and thought Wow!!)
I’m thinking that I might want one of those…
You can read the rest here: Jared’s Cool Out Space Inspires Another Creative Positive Time-Out Space
The blog has all kinds of tools for parenting and I can vouch for them myself, as can our daughters. Our eldest just wrote a post recounting a defining positive discipline moment from over 20 years ago, and I added my two cents in as well.
Come on over and read our experience: Standing against the hurricane-making choices that work
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