After I posted my five mistakes as a parent, there were many who wanted to know the ten things I did right as a parent. Promising to write another blog in one of those rare blogs was axe on the foot for a lazy writer like me. My Team in playschool had challenged if I can write the next blog in this month! So glad to have proven them wrong 🙂
The things I did right might be common ones but it gives satisfaction to me as a parent over a period of time. Here we go!
10. Financial Planning: I created a PPF account of my son when he was just one year old and started depositing money in it every month. I kept on increasing the amount with time. For example, if I got an increment of Rs 4,000 per month then I increased my contribution to Rs 2,000 per month. Today, I am not worried about higher education expenses of my kid at all. Discipline in investing and starting early is the key.
One can go for Mutual Fund’s SIP if there is a risk appetite. You can contact me for any query regarding financial planning as would be glad to guide you.
9. Eating Everything without Tantrums: Me & my wife are firm believers that a child should be made to eat all the vegetables. This requires lot of patience. We used to ensure that no tantrums should be accepted and food had to finished. My son started eating brinjal or bitter gourd at a very young age. He was allowed to watch TV or to play only after he had finished completing his food. Today, my son realises the importance of such steps and is matured enough to point out when he sees any parent being driven by their kids 🙂
8. Immunity Building: Never rushing for medicine unless urgent, developing good eating habits and giving Pediasure in Milk (for six years everyday) helped in developing immunity of my son. The last point of Pediasure is my experience as a parent. However, you can do a research before you start any supplement. Do remember that supplement can’t replace a good diet.
7. Capturing & Revisiting Moments of Childhood: Fortunately, there was an equipment called a Handycam back then which has got obsolete due to advent of smart phones. All the moments of growing up of my son are well preserved and are occasionally seen. My kid also gets to relive those moments and gets to see the affection he has been getting from childhood. This definitely makes the bond stronger and makes the child more affectionate towards a parent.
Rather than keeping thousands of photos/videos in mobile and rarely visiting them, it is better to better to watch few of them by connecting a usb drive to your TV. A video editor can be used to combine all the video recordings in your mobile.
6. Early Habits Never Die: Some of the good habits of my son were developed at a very early stage. It has become effortless with time. He always brushes his teeth at night, has never gone to school without taking bath (in extreme winters as well), never wakes up too late even on weekends, is among those few kids of his age who are not on smart phone and many more. Not that there was no struggle in developing those habits but everything is possible if parents wish so. Kids can be moulded at a young age as later on it is really difficult to change the bad habits/develop good habits. One of the most important thing here is an alignment between parents as both have to agree on any habit that needs to be inculcated else it won’t work.
The rest of five points will be covered in next part of the blog and which will be published soon 🙂
If you have found even one learning among these points, it will be a satisfying for me as a writer, parent and playschool founder. Would be glad if you share your experiences or any positive step that you have taken as a parent.
Nishchal Arora
