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Remembering The Good Times

Every parent has bad days when they feel like everyone is a better parent than they are.
  • The kids won’t stop fighting.
  • Your 6-year-old says, “I hate you.”
  • No one will come to the dinner table.
  • Your teenager’s new friends give you the shivers.
  • Your father says you need to have more strict discipline.
  • Everyone seems to have an opinion about how you could be a better parent. On days like this you need to remember the good times.
Make a list of favorite parenting memories:
Write down several times when you felt like a good parent, when someone complimented you on your parenting, when your child’s smiling face said you were the most-loved parent in the world. These can be very simple:
    One mother wrote about the time she heard her 9-year-old daughter tell her friend: “Let’s ask my mom what to do at our party, she makes everything fun!”

    One father wrote about how his 6-year-old son missed him so much when he was working out of town, his son would fall asleep hugging one of his dad’s t-shirts.
Add new things to your list every month! Discuss it with a friend!

Gather memories in a special place:
Pick a place where you can keep your List of Favorite Parenting Memories. Make a scrapbook. Or make a special box. Start to gather pictures, mementos, notes, letters, special event tickets. Anything that when you look at it or read it makes you feel like a good parent.
    One mother had a picture of taking all her son’s friends sledding. Another mother kept a Mother’s Day Card from her 3-year-old – covered with peanut butter and jelly prints!

    A father kept a card his wife sent him on father’s day that listed all his wonderful qualities as a father.

    Another father kept the first barrettes he ever bought for his daughter to remind him that he learned how to fix his little girl’s hair.
You can put anything in your box or scrapbook that reminds you of what a wonderful parent you can be. How can you make a special place for your favorite parenting memories? What items would you collect and put in the box? Discuss you ideas with a friend.

 

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