The education of our children is an arduous and often exhausting process, it is a process in stages in which there is no rest, there are no holidays, holidays, or days off. As my mother says, "you are a mother every day of your life, without exceptions." Each of us tries to do the best he knows and can, there is no guide, book or manual that fits our children 100% and many of the options we are going to take will be neither good nor bad. Some will be a success and we will see, at least for a brief period of time, the open sky and others may not be the best we have been able to give, but they will add the same.
But this process is not without enemies, some of us will not be able to control them and the only thing we can do will be to prepare our little ones in case that moment comes in their lives, but there are others that are our responsibility, derived from our own nature, of our imperfection, of our inexperience, but also of our neglect, of letting ourselves be carried away by the routine, for that "there will be time", of our schedules that few forces leave us to deal with small ones full of energy and wishing to spend it . Today we want to bring you some of those mistakes, nine sloths that can end your children's education.
Falling into a sedentary lifestyle
Educating is not just filling our child's head with knowledge, rules and values, but to instill healthy habits, take care of your health and prepare you to take care of yourself in the future. For this, sport is an essential weapon, not only to maintain a healthy body, but to have a 100% prepared mind to face that constant flow of new information that is your day to day during the first years.
Encouraging the practice of sport is not turning our child into a star, because not everyone is prepared for it, but through a balanced practice our children they will learn to be competitive at the same time they will get used to work in a team and encourage your social capabilities, because through play it is how children better learn social norms as companionship, collaboration and learn to overcome themselves, promoting security in them.
But it is clear that we should encourage this practice, at least in the first years, until the habit of sport practice is formed and that implies that we ourselves must be an example for them, moving away from that dangerous sedentary lifestyle. Video games, mobiles and tablets are making our children move less and less and childhood obesity begins to be taken as a serious problem in our society. Taking our son to play a game on a Sunday morning, in winter, may not be our favorite plan, but The effort will be worth it.
Not strive to maintain good communication between us
If communication in a couple is one of the pillars that supports it, Communication with your children is one of the basic pillars That sustains the family. Poor communication between parents and children will only bring complications and extra difficulties when it comes to solving the problems that arise through the different stages through which our children and we will also pass.
Shared time
Only by sharing time with our children can we educate them properly, because only then will we realize who they are, their strengths, their weaknesses, what we have to work, what they will teach us, their fears and his joys, of his love and love for us. Only when you spend quality time with your children is it when you can really get to know them and thus be able to create that special union between father and son. Not having time for them is losing the best thing that involves educating and raising a child.
Bad examples
The biggest mirror our children have when it comes to understanding and assimilating the norms of society, the basis on which they will settle when they grow up is us, their parents. It is in us where they will see the good and the bad of society, our way of behaving will be the line that our children will follow in the future. It is true that there will be other influences, but the one they receive from home is basic.
Prepare anything to eat
Yes, food is also important in the education of our children. Nothing happens if one day, or even a week, for a specific reason we prepare anything, we go to some fast food chain, etc. Nothing happens if we offer industrial pastries or toys to our children in a timely manner. The problem lies in when all that becomes a habit and children snack on pastries almost daily, drink juices and smoothies without discretion or the diet that exists in our house is based on fried foods and sugars.
Obesity is on its way to becoming a pandemic in the future and a good education in relation to healthy eating habits will be a great help for the future of our children.
I do not say that we should always be with the calorie calculator and looking at each package that falls into the hands of your children, but if you teach them to eat in a variety of ways, to eat fruits and vegetables daily, not to abuse the sweets, or the juices, to learn to value and enjoy a family meal, without shouting and without hurry. All that depends on us, on our effort because many times it is we who do not like a dish, but there are many ways to eat in a healthy and balanced way without sacrificing taste and without having to steam everything, our partners from Direct to the Palate Surely they can give you some clue how to do it. Let's not forget that what the child eats today will mark the adult that will be tomorrow.
Educate with violence
Although the message of educating without violence is increasingly penetrating our society, even the data on the number of children who suffer domestic violence is too high.
We must be very clear that hitting a child does not educate and the consequences are very dangerous. If we "educate" through violence, what we will achieve will be the opposite of what we are probably looking for, which is what makes our children look safe and happy. A child who is punished ends up becoming an insecure child of himself, for he will be afraid to do something that displeases us and causes a new punishment.
With violence, we do not cause our children to respect us and the rest, what we provoke is that they fear our reaction and that they behave badly when they believe they are not seen. It is an easy resource that often tackles the problem, but only hides the symptoms, letting the real problem continue to grow. This is perhaps the biggest mistake we can make for not giving them a little more attention and trying to educate them in respect. So no whipping or screaming.
Do not allow your children to express themselves and tell us their things in their own words
Regarding the education of the little ones, we still have a lot to move forward with respect to what we were used to and one of those important points is the stop considering children as second-class citizens, without rights and without vote. That idea that a child has to obey without questioning, that famous phrase "when you are a father you will eat eggs", all that should be left forgotten. We are not saying that the opinion of our children becomes law, I am very clear that a child does not always see reality objectively and after all the adults are us. I mean letting them think about family matters that affect them: where to play, what program they want to watch, what they want to have dinner, etc. Always within limited options that are feasible, it is clear that going to the park mounted on a pink unicorn is not very feasible, although it can lead to different games, for example: how to build a unicorn. Other examples: During dinner, tell in turns what you have done throughout the day. Before what to do on the weekend we can select two or three options and let the children decide what they want, for example: go to see a museum, ride a bike or go to the park.
This takes time, it is not easy for a child to express certain concepts and ideas and many times it can be even dizzy due to the difficulty of following the thread of his story, but this effort will make them self-confident adults by being accustomed to making decisions that they affect them as they feel valued and are aware of their place within the family.
Do not meet the demands of your children
One of the consequences of the life we lead is that of going all day pending of the clock and our agenda is that it forces us to prioritize the list of tasks at the end of the day and many times the requests and requests of our children are what They lose out.
We minimize their needs or give priority to others who think they have it when they are completely expendable for our children. So many times, we run to tears, we do not have time to stop to see how the ants carry a seed from one side to another, as a plane leaves a wake behind it, we do not stay with them those five minutes that will take longer to fall asleep or there will be no time for a second story, etc. So one thing after another implies to our children that their demands are not important, that they do not count and that they are not loved, probably that second story was the least important thing and what they really needed was ten more minutes with dad or mom. Not attending to them will cause insecurities when facing problems in the future, as they will not be clear that we will be there to help them.
Surrender
Being a father or mother is not easy, it is hard work that leaves you exhausted for many days and as if that were not enough, it is not at all clear that all that effort serves something. Many times, after trying in every possible way and not getting a fluid relationship with our children, we give up, we leave them as impossible and we begin to put them in a brush: "is that it has no choice", "is a bad child", "no for still "," is a weeping woman ". All this causes even more frustration in our children and the problem, far from disappearing will become a major problem over time. As our grandmothers used to say: "to young children, small problems" is that although now everything is a drama for them and we want to give up, it will be even worse in the future if today we do not stop and tackle the root problem.
