Parenting Under the Stars

A calm has settled upon our home and family and the children seem more content and relaxed. The fact that no one is sick anymore helps but all the commotion from the holidays gets tiring as well.

Getting family back to a regular schedule

• Getting the children back into regular schedules and healthy eating patterns will take a couple days. I figure that’s how long it will take us to eat all the junk people gave us. My mother, the slimmest of us all keeps shuttling over treats since she can’t have them in her home. I have not hoarded the chocolates this year but shared them, so I am making progress. I do draw some lines though and don’t allow them to run rampant with treats and they have a proper breakfast of course.

• Giving the kids a regular bedtime is important for their health and happiness. They will also be able to function much better once they have to go back to school. It does not seem to matter how obviously tired a child is as they will not admit to it anyway. At least none of mine have.

My husband doesn’t even usually admit to it which is why I sometimes find him asleep on the couch. I do believe everyone is different but children generally require a certain amount of sleep or else they act out. Don’t we all? A lot of problems and squabbles happened when one or all of us were overtired so enough sleep is essential for a calm and happy family.

Avoiding over stimulation

• This seems somewhat of a challenge since the children have received toys they want to play with all at the same time. There’s four children living here (five counting my 20 year old) so they are all into different things. It can be quite chaotic for example if one has their paint and play dough out, one wants to read, one wants to blast music and one wants to watch television. There’s something to be said about structured activities but it is challenging with the varying age groups. How do you manage it? We generally get them to take turns with things but of course sometimes a couple of them can do different things in different rooms.

There is no one right way to parent but Erinn over at Parenting Children has shared with us some of the parenting tips she has learned.