The most vital tip every parent should know before leaving the house with their kids or sending them to school is: start your day and week the right way.
I'm talking about more than just a good breakfast.
Nutrition is important, but, ultimately, you have a responsibility to do more than just feed them to ensure your children's good behavior, no matter where they are located or what time of day it is.
The following tips will clarify this for you and help you to see a practical strategy on how to start things out right with your kids on a daily and weekly basis.
1.
BE PROACTIVE & PREVENTIVE If there's nothing else in this world that I've learned as a mom, it is to prevent my kids' emotional outbursts or bad behavior, especially in public places, instead of just constantly reacting to it.
When we take our children out, every time we take them out, we are constantly being complimented on their great behavior, not just on how cute they are.
Cuteness wears off of kids very quickly when you add bad behavior in a public place.
For babies and small children, having needed items with you, and keeping extras in the car or baby bag, can stop confusion and misunderstandings that could set them off.
One example is to ensure that you keep an extra clean pacifier, if your baby uses pacifiers, just in case the other one ends up on the floor and you can't wash it right away.
If they have a favorite blanket or stuffed toy that they sleep with every night, be sure to pack it when you travel, or else you may not get much peace or sleep.
It took us some time to learn these things, but once we learned, we have never forgotten.
Operating your parenting style as a planned strategy, instead of just handling crisis after crisis, will bring you and your whole family more peace on a daily basis.
2.
BALANCED, APPROPRIATE NUTRITION In terms of physical nutrition, start the day out right with a proper balance of natural fruit (no sugar added), complex carbohydrates (whole grains), and protein.
Never give your kids white sugar or high fructose corn syrup for breakfast (or at all).
That will only set them up to melt down later.
On our family food journal blog, we have shared delicious, healthy and kid-friendly recipes that are simple and quick to fix.
For instance, in our delicious quick and fruity oatmeal recipe (dairy-free), we use 4 cups of whole oats for every 6 cups of water, a touch of pumpkin spice, and about a half cup of naturallysweetened organic applesauce as the sweetener, instead of sugar or syrup.
About 5 minutes is all it takes to boil this delicious mixture on medium-high heat.
We also keep nuts, seeds, raisins, berries, and other delicious nutritious toppings on hand for the kids to choose from.
In order to keep your children from getting tired of oatmeal, eating it every day, despite some food companies' recommendations, is probably not a good idea.
However, if they know they can fix it in their own special way with a choice of toppings, they'll love it every time they do have it, even if it is 3 mornings that week.
Also, toppings are great on cold cereal, waffles or pancakes on alternating mornings.
Also, the reason that I mentioned dairy-free is that nutrition needs to be appropriate to any special needs that your children may have.
Pay attention to and be aware of their food sensitivities or allergies, and their stage of dental development or dental challenges.
Frequently, our children have gotten in trouble at mealtime.
So, we finally learned to pay more attention to and be more sensitive to their specific meal needs, instead of trying to make everyone always eat the exact same things.
This is why this oatmeal recipe and our other recipes reflect versatility to meet these varied needs.
3.
SPIRITUAL NOURISHMENT / CHARACTER BUILDING As I said, I am not just talking about a good breakfast.
The very best way to start your day is with spiritual nourishment to soothe the soul, ease the mind, and lay a foundation for whatever is facing your family for that day.
Our family is from the Christian tradition.
Evenso, we believe that the Holy Bible has information that can be applied to any family who sees the importance of passing spiritual awareness and moral character on to their kids, no matter which tradition they follow.
Keep prayer and Bible study short, sweet, and simple.
A 5 to 10 minute Bible reading and prayer should be enough when they are little.
You will probably need at least 15 to 30 minutes for older kids and teens, so they'll have enough time to participate, as well.
For small kids, have them to focus on one verse or short group of verses for one full week so that they can memorize it.
Keep it relevant to what you are dealing with in real life.
For instance, if your family wants/needs certain things that are not coming to you very easily, discuss faith using I John 5:4.
Teach your kids how to pray the way that the Bible teaches us to pray.
Base your prayers on the scriptures you've been studying.
You can read about what Jesus said on prayer throughout the New Testament, especially in the book of Matthew.
3a.
PRAYER When you pray as a family, lead the main prayer to teach the children how to pray and then give each one a brief moment to say a prayer.
Little kids love to pray, especially for relatives who may be far away or don't visit often.
Always make sure that, as Jesus instructed, you pray "To the Father in the Name of the Son".
(John 16:25-27) Here is a great tip I learned from a wonderful family that I used to babysit for when I was in college: designate a small box as your prayer box.
Add in index cards for each person or family that you usually pray for.
Then create a schedule for just how often and when you would like to pray for each.
This is simple and powerful, if you tweak it to fit in with your own family's style.
3b.
SPIRITUAL READING Also, according to the book of Genesis in the Holy Bible, God Almighty is the one who created marriage and children.
He knows best about families.
So, you should use the Holy Bible, especially the Psalms and Proverbs, as a standard guide on parenting, good manners and strong morals.
All children should be raised to understand how to read and study the Bible for themselves.
The earlier you start with this the better.
Our family has found some very helpful spiritual books and recordings that are on the level of children at different ages.
Our favorite book is "God Made Me Perfect and Wonderful: A Daily Devotional for Children" by Mrs.
Icilda Hogan.
It is awesome because pre-schoolers have site words that they can learn as you continue to read the book with them daily.
The beautiful photo illustrations, by Victor Hogan, are photographs of children overlayed with block letters spelling the body part that page is focusing on.
For older children, the pages include sentences and paragraphs written for beginning readers and more well-established young readers, as well.
3c.
DISCIPLINE Our children regularly read scriptures from the book of Proverbs that talk about discipline (Proverbs 22:15).
From this scripture, they have an understanding that the Holy Bible has provided a God-given mandate for parents to provide discipline.
They understand that their Mom and Dad love them and will not allow them to live without discipline because that is not good for them.
According to the Proverbs, and many wise teachers/preachers/therapists, children must have boundaries, rules, and a moral code to live by if they are to have a good life.
Otherwise, they will end up in trouble as young adults dealing with strangers and a justice system that doesn't care how cute or smart they are.
3d.
FELLOWSHIP & SERVICE Finally, one of the most important ways to help your kids develop a conscience and good character is by teaching them the importance of weekly fellowship with people of similar faith and/or similar moral code.
Friendships with those who have similar beliefs provides a type of mirror to your children.
It teaches them how to deal with tough situations, such as peer pressure, in healthy and acceptable ways.
Use attending weekly worship service as a way to keep your week headed in a positive direction.
Also, serving others who need help enables a child to see that the world doesn't revolve around them.
It helps them to understand that God can use them to help others.
This can build more self-confidence and motivate them to seek God for understanding their purpose in life, beyond becoming a star entertainer or athlete.
Even little kids can pitch in and help with small tasks if the family volunteers weekly at the local senior center or soup kitchen.