Dax Shepard, cool guy that he is, has some great advice on raising kids. My favorite, besides no butt pads (“Your butt is a pad”), is that kids are good at figuring, uh, stuff out.
I watch them navigate situations over and over again that they would not do if I was present or my wife was present. By God, they work shit out.
👉 We Love Dax Shepard’s Easygoing Approach to Parenting
Here’s a great collection of outside / backyard games, if your kids are getting bored being pent up inside this summer.
👉 20 of the Best Backyard Games for Kids and How to Play Them
Red Light, Green Light sounds fun for one.
Sometimes we parents think it’s our job to so “no” all the time. While there are certainly times when we must so “no” — hard rules, boundaries, safety — we often so “no” for the wrong reasons.
For example, we say no because the kids is just being loud or messy. Or when saying “yes” means extra work for us such as letting the kid help us with dinner.
Often “no” is our answer when we don’t have the time, energy, or patience to clean up messes or tend to bumps and scrapes.
According to this article, toddlers hear “no” an average of 400 times a day 😳, so “no” stops having real power or meaning to them.
👉 Let’s Stop Saying No All the Time and Try a Yes Day Instead
This article suggests a “yes” day and stop saying “no” out of reflex.
In doing so, our kids might be more responsive, obedient, and accommodating. We might even find out that saying yes can be fun—for the whole family.
I have to admit, I’ve been slacking on giving my kids chores. It’s just basics – mostly cleaning up after themselves, emphasizing individual responsibility.
Without responsibilities, how will our kids grow up?
But this great article from Let Grow has me thinking about chores — reframed as “responsibilities” — as part of helping the family and growing your kid’s sense of community and self-confidence.
👉 Don’t Give Up—How to Get Your Kids to Do Chores
This article explains the benefits to your kids having chores responsibilities to do around the house. It also has practical tips for making these responsibilities work for everyone.
I’ve never been so inspired about chores! 😀
I love this post from Let Grow. It’s calling out how pointless and even damaging it is to just say “Be careful!” to your kids all the time. It’s a really interesting read.
👉 Let’s Stop Telling Our Kids to Be Careful All the Time
Of course we all want our kids to be safe. But the point here is that we should teach them specifically how to identify and deal with risk instead of a hand waving “Be careful!”, which only indices fear and is mainly meant to make the parents feel better.
As parents, we should be guiding our kids through risk. Our job is to make them strong, independent, smart people. That means helping our kids recognize, evaluate, and manage different kinds of risk. 💪🏻 How about empowering them by asking them, “What’s your exit strategy?” instead of vaguely scaring them with “Be careful!”.
Using phrases that empower our confident kids to manage risk on their own not only gives them important information about their environment, but it also teaches them that they’re capable of doing it.
They even have a poster of things to say instead of “Be careful!”.
Mental Break Town 