Life hacks by me - children

Originally published 12/29/2019 on Wordpress

Children are gifts that are loaned to us from above. Our job is to nurture them and get them ready to fly and survive out there on their own. Each child is different and will have to be handled carefully. Whether or not what we do or how we raise them makes a difference is subject to debate. This is evidenced by the fact that siblings exposed to the same upbringing don’t always turn out the same way.

My husband and I truly believe that a child’s outcome is dependent on how they are raised. And the how would need to be started from a young age (pre kindergarten preferably) otherwise, you would have lost your window. We are of the belief that children today are born with a much higher IQ than we were. If you don’t believe me, give a two year old an iPhone and watch what happens.

This is what we did with our kid in our household.

1- We did not allow any TVs in the kids bedrooms. And no watching TV Sunday to Thursday night. They were allowed to watch on Friday and Saturday. Weekdays are for homework or reading.

2- Our children were required to read at least one book during the school year and 2 during the summer break. We had them write book reports to make sure they had read and understood the content.

3- We always had the kids do the work books for the grade they were going into over the summer. You can get these at any Barnes and Noble or Amazon- it covers math, english, science and reading. It is a good way for them to keep their brains active in summer time

4- They are required to look up and present to us some information on any new country or city we are visiting. This includes as applicable- language spoken, currency, customs, geographic location

5- From a young age we thought them to navigate an airport. We would give them the boarding passes and say lead the way.

6- They learned early on how to do their laundry and basic cleaning.

7- They had chores at home ranging from taking out the trash, keeping common areas clean to shoveling snow

8- They learned early on how to cook basic meals and added on as they got older.

9- We always made them write thank you notes for any gifts they were given and when appropriate, a phone call.

10- They were thought early on to always say good morning, please and thank you.

11- We believe in having well rounded children. So in addition to academics it was important that they engaged in a sport and learned to play an instrument.

12- They each were given cell phones at the age of 11 but the phones had to be off at 8pm. Same with the laptops which they used for schoolwork. If being misused the phones and laptops had to be left out overnight in a common area to charge.

Our kids are now 23 and 19 and both doing well in school.

We hope we have done a thing or two right. But only time will tell.

Do you have any advice on raising kids? Please share below.

As always, thanks for reading.

J