As I said in this New Year's Tree post back in January, family is one of the areas of focus I have chosen for 2016. Of course, as a mother family is always a focus. But I made it one of the "branches" of my New Year's Tree with the intention of seeking more resources and reminders to help me be a better parent and to help my children navigate the challenging preteen and teen years. As we all know, there are significant hormonal changes to deal with at this period in a human being's life. Think terrible twos. And then triple that.
Like I said in that previous post, we are often busy running around to appointments and activities and pushing the kids to get homework done. We don't take enough time to sit and chat, play games and just hang out. No matter the age of your child, their favourite activity ever is just being with Mom or Dad. Trust me. Who doesn't love a compliment, a kind word, a thank you or a hug from a parent or other loved one?
Raincoast Books was kind enough to send me three books to help me on my journey as a parent. Read on to enter a giveaway for Raising Stress-Proof Kids: Parenting Today's Children for Tomorrow's World
. Is it just me or do you find that children today are more stressed than ever? I feel like in our quest to make perfect beings we ask too much of kids now. Everything is scheduled and they don't seem to have the chance to head outdoors and learn things on their own. Like I learned to skate by putting on skates and getting on the ice - it seems like kids take lessons for every single thing now. Do they have as much fun as we did?
