Life Fast Forward – OurCrazyBoys

The moment a child is born a parents job is working towards letting them go. What would it be like if you could write a letter to your child in the future? Have you ever considered what you would tell your child about life and being a parent? There is no right or wrong answer. It’s all about being open and honest with our kids. I am fortunate to have a great mom this week, Becca, who writes at Our Crazy Boys. She looked at Life Fast Forward with her son, Michael.

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Dear Michael,

You did it! You are a proud parent. If you’re anything like I was when I had you, you’re overwhelmed, sleep deprived, and worried about dropping your little one. I have a few things I want to share with you about parenting. Not because I did it perfectly, but because I know that parenting can be really overwhelming at times. It’s nice to know that someone else has been through it and lived to tell about it.

As a newborn

Hold him (you had a boy, right? boys are kind of awesome, and I don’t have a clue what to tell you about raising girls) all the time. Don’t let people tell you that he’ll get spoiled if you hold him too much. There will be a day when he is too heavy to hold, so take advantage of every minute you can cradle that baby in your arms.
Say “I love you.” Say it often. Say it forever.

Pre-school years

Get that little boy into a part-time pre-school. He’ll love meeting new friends, and you’ll have a few precious hours to yourself. Or maybe your wife will. Either way, do not go home and clean. Take a book to the coffee shop and take a real break – you deserve it.

Let him wear the fireman boots everyday – you did.

Write everything down. That kid is going to crack you up, make you angry, and make you cry with his words. Even if you think you’ll never forget it, write it down.

Oh, one more thing. The answer to, “why?” It’s “because I am your father.” It’s a perfectly acceptable answer. Unfortunately, you’ll need this handy bit of information for quite a few more years.

Elementary school

Buy the school photos, even though you have thousands of photos at home. There’s something fun about getting them back, and they look great on Grandma’s refrigerator.

Don’t badmouth his teacher in front of him. He is bound to have one that you don’t care for. He needs to learn to respect adults, follow the rules, and be a part of the team.

On the other side of that, he also needs to know that if at any time he doesn’t understand the reasoning behind something, he can {politely} ask for clarification. This is one of the best things your Dad and I did when you were little.

Middle School

I bet you feel so old right now. We dealt with things like rated M video games, cell phones, and parental controls on the computer. I’m sure that half of that will be obsolete by the time your little one is in middle school. Before killing your tween when he does something “tweeny,” let me remind you of a few things.

1. You charged $140 to the App Store once. You paid it back, and we moved past it.

2. Two days after you received an iPhone and were told the #1 rule was DO NOT ERASE texts, you erased your texts. We took it for a week, and moved past it.

3. You stayed up for 24 straight hours at a friend’s house one time. You didn’t stay with that friend again for quite a while, and we moved past it.

Do you see the theme? Move past it. Things are going to happen. Let him know what he does wrong, set a consequence, and move past it.

This parenting thing? It sucks sometimes. You are not going to have all the answers, and that’s ok. None of us had a handbook. Love that kid more than anything, and let him know that you’ll always support him.

If he grows up to be happy and responsible? You can count yourself as the most successful parent in the world.

-Mom

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About the author:

Becca (@BeccasCrazyBoys) is a blogger and iPhone addict. A middle school speech therapist by trade, she is taking some time off to pursue her passion for writing. She lives in the middle of the Arizona desert with her husband, two boys, and a bearded dragon named Billy.

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Great Life Fast Forward letter Becca!  Michael is going to make an outstanding father with you as a mom. Hopefully, he won’t forget that he wore fireman boots all the time during the pre-school years and allows his child to wear them without a fuss. If it was necessary, I have a feeling that you would remind him so you could get lots of pictures for the refrigerator! You have done a great job, mom (even without a handbook)! Thank you so much for sharing with everyone your heart and humor in a Life Fast Forward letter.

Becca didn’t mention it earlier but you can also follow her on facebook at Our Crazy Boys.

For everyone else….If you have anything you would like to tell or ask Becca please do so in the comments! As parents  we have to support each other and sometimes that means just letting each other know “you’re doing a good job!”

Is there anything in particular you would tell your children? Would you remind them to just enjoy the moments or not get mad when their children don’t listen? I am still looking for more parents that would like to guest blog and write a letter to their children.

Read my latest post here: Full-time Employment and Fatherhood and be sure to check out the rest of the Life Fast Forward letters including the one I wrote to my son.

 

Tags: parenting, parents, proud parent, wrong answer