calvin

So tbV and i do not have any children at the moment. And we are kinda hoping that moment lasts a lifetime. Which makes some people tend to weird out a little bit as if having children was the ultimate point of life. [SPOILER: It’s not!]

Having and raising children is an incredible thing and both a huge responsibility and privilege, but it is a choice that some people make and other perfectly normal people choose not to. We should get over that for starters.

However, having been around people with young children a lot during our three years in Americaland then lived with two families with young children for the first six months back in South Africa we have been able to observe many things, and one thing that is for sure – raising children is not easy.

The saying ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ sounds completely apt because it can be such a complicated thing to do as two people [with one working, or in some cases both] and even, in some situations, as one.

Complex aspects such as when your child throws a tantrum [both publically and at home], how to discipline effectively [when different parents may have different ideas or growing up experiences to draw from] and even ‘simpler’ things like ‘getting them to eat their food’, ‘monitoring how they play with other children’ and ‘losing games well’ can seem like mountains if what you try doesn’t seem to be working.

i thought it might be helpful to canvas some parents i do know who seem to be doing okay or whose children seem to be well adjusted, and to ask them for some tips, ideas or experiences from their life, that may help some others of you out there. Obviously each child and each family situation is different and this is definitely an area where one size does not fit all. But i also imagine that some of the time you are just looking for some new ideas that might be worth a shot and may even work for you.

That is what this series is going to be about, and if you think you have a parenting tip that worked well for you and may help out someone else who is struggling in some area, please don’t hesitate to email me at brettfish@hotmail.com and see if we can add it here]…

Happy [and hopefully slightly more successful] parenting people…

4 Tips from a mum – Bek Curtis from Australia had so many things to share, she could not keep it to one

The Most Important Thing – frequent collaborator Candice Fourie shares some key tips for parents

Ten Tips from a motherhood that has stretched me – Melissa Hertz shares some skills she picked up as a mom