Parents Magazine has been around for 80 years and in the October 2006, in honor of their anniversary, they offer 80 Tips for Parents From Parents. Here are some of my favorites:
Give yourself a break, being a parent means making mistakes and we should not beat ourselves up about them. Instead, we should learn and move on.
Create a weekly family ritual like talking a walk in the park, having pancakes for dinner or playing charades.
Be affectionate to your kids. Begin and end each day with “I love you” and offer lots of hugs and kisses.
Learn to apologize to your kids when you mess up. It’ll teach them honesty, responsibility and justice.
Call it mother’s intuition or a gut feeling, whatever it is— trust it.
Seek support.
Laugh a lot.
Catch your kids in the act of being good and reward them for it.
The best way to tame a toddler tantrum is to redirect their attention.
Make sure you know the number for the poison control hotline: 800-222-1222.
Don’t smoke.
Make sure your kids get the appropriate amount of sleep for their age: 12 to 14 hours for a child 12 to 35 months; 11 to 13 hours for kids 3 to 5 years old and 11 hours for kids 6 to 12.
Read to your child daily.
Take a yearly family vacation.
Encourage creativity in your kids.
Enjoy ourselves and enjoy being with our children.
Practice the art of being patient.
Don’t go it alone, get help and support if you need it.
Praise your kids.
Teach your kids to be responsible starting at an early age.
If a child breaks a rule, act immediately. If you wait too long to punish them they may forget what they did wrong.
Stop yelling at your kids, instead when you feel like screaming, close your eyes, take a deep breath and count to ten (or 100!)
Eat dinner as a family as often as possible.
See also:
7 Keys of Successful Parenting