Modern Parenting: Things to Get Right
Raising a family this day in age is a lot different from when we were children ourselves. The world has changed massively in the last few decades, and so as a modern parent it can be difficult to know exactly what the right approaches can be.
Modern Parenting
In our parents and grandparents generations, knowledge and parenting styles would have been passed down—but we now live in a world that’s so completely different that a lot of this knowledge no longer applies.
The end goal is the same—we want to raise happy, healthy kids that will go on to be productive members of society.
But we have to carve out a new path as parents in today’s world, here are some of the things we have to work on getting right.
Healthy eating when we were kids was fairly easy, most families would have standard ‘meat and two veg’ type dinners which were home cooked using simple, local ingredients.
These days, it’s a little more tricky.
Supermarkets contain aisles full on convenience foods such as microwave meals that are full of hidden sugars, salts and fats. Takeaway and fast food joints are on every corner, and you can order food to your house pretty much round the clock.
All of these things can make it that bit harder to eat healthily this day in age, so it’s important to establish healthy routines.
Have kids take a packed lunch to school instead of going to a chip shop or other fast food joint at lunch.
Get into the habit of making family dinners from scratch so you know what’s gone into them. Keep takeout and fast food as an occasional thing.
Exercise
One thing that sets kids today apart from kids when were were young is technology—with so much incredible tech at their fingertips it’s much easier to live an inactive life.
When we were bored as kids we’d usually jump on our bike or run around outside, make up games and generally have active fun outdoors.
But where technology can be a lot of fun, from computer games to social media to music and videos, kids often don’t feel compelled to put down their devices and go and get into the great outdoors.
On top of this, the world in many ways is less safe than it used to be, and as parents we can stress about letting our children have too much freedom outdoors.
Find activities that are fun and safe- trampoline parks, ice skating and sports are often so much fun they don’t feel like exercise.
Learning outside of the classroom
School teaches our kids so much, but there are still skills we need to develop with them as parents.
From safety and security online (see Borgata online privacy for more) to cooking, empathy for others and more- there are plenty of things we can do with our kids to teach them outside of the classroom.