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Our son turns 18 tomorrow. Parenting journeys are rarely perfect but almost always fun. Parents make many mistakes, learn several lessons and in the process get reacquainted with life itself. So here’s a thread that young/would-be parents might find useful: (1/n)
1. The best thing parents can provide kids is exposure to new places/cultures. We decided we’ll visit at least 1 new country a year. I can’t understand parents who travel w/o kids coz they’re too young to remember. That’s like not telling them stories coz they won’t remember(2/n)
2. Make them animal friendly - Being kind to animals teaches kids empathy. Empathy for those weaker than us, for the environment, for this world. It unlocks a certain emotional segment of our brain that only animal lovers are familiar with. (3/n)
3. Communication- We all are slave to our gadgets. Invariably our kids will fall prey too, creating a communication deficit. One way to minimise communication deficit is to maximize common activities. Fun things to do & talk about. In our case it’s tennis/golf/guitar (4/n)
4. Be a non-BISS parent(BISS=Because I Say So): We decided we will back all our expectations with logic & reasoning. It’s not easy tho. Using ‘BISS’ is often tempting & easier. But we believe a non-BISS approach teaches kids the value of logic & keeps them away from dogma. (5/n)
5 Skills -we want our kids to be multi-skilled but they’ll have aptitude for only a few. At times an early push is required to cross the hump, but we need to let go if the child doesn’t show a flair. My son admits w/o a push he wouldn’t have found his passion for the guitar.(6/n)
7. Finally, have a bedtime story routine in the early years. Daily or weekly depending on your time. Make stories up or read from a book depending on your imagination. This creates neural synapses, firing up their imagination. And a great way to introduce basic human values (n/n)
Adding No. 6 which I missed. Praise: praise the effort not the person. If they do well in an activity - instead of saying ‘you are so smart or clever’ say ‘I like how you applied yourself’. That builds stronger work ethics and avoids self-entitlement.
