a great parent

Happy Home Life Tip #5

How do you know if you’re a “great parent”?

Good news…you get to decide!

You don’t have to compare yourself to others or wait for the results 

of your Parent Report Card (because there is no such thing)!

But, have you ever thought about creating your own Report Card to see how you’re doing?

I have one, and it looks like this:

I Care For, Teach, Believe In, and Love my kids.

As long as I’m doing these four things, I’m a great mom.

Care:

I take care of their daily health, safety & emotional needs.

Being a “caring mom” is sometimes easy, sometimes messy, and sometimes hard. 

But I end each day knowing I did my best, for that day.

(Our sons are now adults.)

Teach:

When they were young, I shared our family values, expectations and consequences with our kids and expected them to our follow family rules.  

I said, “I’ve waited a long time to be a mother and make the rules”.

Of course, as adults, our kids might not follow any of our teachings, and that’s okay.

My husband’s values seem to have had the greatest impact; he believes in hard work and taking “the high road”.  

As a teen, one son said, “Dad, your high road is just way too high”…while

his brother dubbed doing things Dad’s way as “doing a Diego”!

But each son, in his own way, has taken that “hight road”, isn’t afraid of hard work, has been quite successful, and continues to do things the Diego way.

Believe:

I support and believe in my children 100%.

They are worthy, lovable, intelligent, kind, capable, individuals.

I have great faith that they’ll be able to gain insight and strength from any perceived failure in their lives, and move forward with excitement and determination to their next adventure.

I believe they know their parents will always be here to help and support them…they need only to ask.

Love:

I love being with my kids. 

I’ll love them no matter what they do, or who they become. 

My love for them comes from my thoughts about them; it’s not dependent on how they act.

They can think of me as loving or not—it will never stop me from feeling love for them.

That is my "Report Card”.

What does your “Parent Report Card” look like?

If you’d like some help creating one and feeling like a straight A student?

I’d be happy to help.

Hugs,

Krista

Photo is of our hen Midnight. She was such a great parent. She incubated another hen’s egg and raised it as her own! (Her chick would have been grey.)