posted by Scott von Berg 10:17:21 AM

Thursday, December 27, 2001

 

Taken from The Girlfriends' Guide to Toddlers by Vicki Iovine.

You can curse like a sailor, pick your nose or eat nothing but Doritos for breakfast, lunch and dinner around a baby and he will not pick up your bad habits. Once you have a toddler in the house, however, you'd better be ready to see your worst behavior mirrored....
...If you wish your child to behave in a certain way, the very best thing you can do is behave that very same way....
...In the long run, it will not be the little quirks your toddler inherited from you that really matter. Your challenge lies in not setting examples that can ruin his life. What follows is a list of the most important behaviors to cut out of your life before they are woven into the fabric of your toddler's life:

1. Don't smoke
   
2. Don't hit or allow yourself to be hit
   
3. Don't demean or allow yourselt to be demeaned.
   
4. Don't lie
   
5. Don't hate
   

If you can master those things as well as toss in all the good stuff like:

1. Love freely.
   
2. Be enthusiastic.
   
3. Honor commitments.
   
4. Read together.
   

Then you're already miles ahead in the parenting game.

It seems to me that this would be an effective way to cure the world of it's ills.
posted by Scott von Berg 8:30:31 PM