Planning to Raise Your Children

Most people jump into parenthood feet first and don't stop to think much along the way. Their kids turn out okay. But do you want your kids to just turn out ok, or do you want them to be great, interesting, go-getting adults?

Parenthood is something that comes naturally to most of us. Your instincts kick in as soon as you see that tiny infant leave the womb and they continue to serve you well as your baby grows up into a toddler, a child, a pre-teen and finally a full-on adolescent. You might talk about discipline techniques with your friends and your spouse, but it is also important to do some proper planning for your children.

If you have a spouse, do the planning exercises given below together. It is important that parents work together on building the characteristics and values they want in their children. Kids can spot inconsistencies a mile away, so if Mom is on board and Dad isn't, they will get confused.

Sit down and think about what character qualities you would like your kids to have as adults. Do you want them to be honest and hard-working? To be kind and think of others? Make a list of all the attributes you would like to see in your children and then decide which 5 are the most important to you. Brainstorm ways to teach these qualities to your children and remember that you will need to model them yourself if you expect your kids to.

While character qualities are important, so is what your child knows. Don't just assume that school will take care of everything for you. Think about the specific skills that you want your children to know when they are adults. Make a list of the skills and keep it somewhere that you will see it fairly often, so you can keep these fresh in your mind. Then make a plan to start teaching your kids.

Skills can be either practical or educational. Educational skills would include things like reading, math, etc. Those are mostly learned at school, but you should make sure that your kids understand the concepts and get them help if they need it.

Practical or life skills are ones that are not learned in a school, but in the real world. These would include skills like mending a hole in your shirt, doing laundry, cooking, changing a flat tire, etc. These are probably skills that you could teach yourself, but some things such as swimming or karate, are better left up to a proper teacher. You can enroll your kids in extracurricular classes to learn these extra skills.

Making sure that your children have the best head start they can have in life is part of being a good parent. It doesn't take that much effort, really, but you do need to have a clear idea of what you want them to end up like. Picture your kids as adults and imagine what you want them to know and be like, then make a plan to teach them the things they need to get there. This is something that could take the next 18 years, if your child is still an infant, or you might need to cram stuff into just half that time if your kids are already growing up.

Planning ahead is what separates good parents from great ones. Just take a few minutes to think about the future of your children and make it work.