Starting Young

Habits are hard to break. Ask any smoker. Because of this, it is really important to start parenting a baby the same way you would like to parent a toddler, a child, a teen, etc. I have big dreams for my son, so I am trying to lay the foundation now, while he is too young to really understand anything, so that the habits I develop as a parent are good ones, and I don't struggle to 'become' a good parent when my child is older.

One quality I hope he possesses is tolerance and understanding of all people. In order to foster this, I hope to expose him to a variety to people, cultures, and lifestyles so that he never thinks of people as weird or different. When my husband and I were discussing where to buy a house, we purposely chose an ethnically diverse neighborhood (in the best part of the best city EVER!). We really love it there, and we feel better knowing our boy will not grow up amidst a flock of other white protestants. This weekend, we took him to the 2007 Pride Festival at Loring Park. He slept the whole time, so he really didn't get any exposure to the GLBT community, but he was there. Hopefully, he will be there next year too, and the year after, and so on. My goal is to get myself in the habit, so that I don't decide when he is 16 that he really should spend some time getting to know about GLBT issues, and then have it backfire when I take him to the 2023 Pride Festival, and he makes some rude comment to a someone based on prejudices he learned from other kids.

Another thing I want to avoid is obesity. So many kids struggle with this, and although often it is genetic, it isn't always. And who can blame a kid for watching TV and eating Big Macs all day if his parents say it's okay? I would. TV and Big Macs are pretty sweet. Anyway, to help get myself in shape to keep my son in shape, we are doing a couple of things. First, we go for family walks daily. It isn't much in the way of a workout, but it is something. He will learn that it is normal for families to get out and move every day. Second, he isn't allowed to watch TV. What does a 5 month old need to watch TV for? I know if I let myself let him get in the habit, even if it is 15 or 20 minutes here or there so I can sweep the floor or whatever, it will be impossible (or at least really difficult) to stop. So I plan to just not start. When he is older (3 or 4), I will probably allow him to watch a half hour a day. Movies (as a family) don't count! But nothing until he is older.

The other thing we are doing to help us avoid obesity is raising him as a vegetarian (it has many other benefits, too, which I will discuss in detail in future posts). My kid is still just eating breast milk, so it isn't like his vegetarianism is an issue yet, but I am sure it will be some day. Sine my husband and I are both vegetarians, it is an easy choice to make. When he is older, he can make the choice himself about whether he wishes to remain a vegetarian or not (my guess is he will). But not until he is old enough to understand what meat is, what it does to hurt our bodies, and what happens to the animals on their journey to his plate. Regardless of a parent's views on meat consumption, it is fact (not opinion) that most meats are highly fatty and bad for the human body. So, as a way to help avoid childhood obesity, vegetarianism just makes sense.

These are some choices my husband and I have made for our child. Does anyone have any other good ideas of things we can start doing now to help us be good parents later?