What examples do you set?

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“Children close their ears to advice but open their eyes to example.” 

I do not know much about parenting but I know that this statement above is very true. My son is almost two years old now and he copies whatever he sees I do. But listening to what I tell him, fuhgeddaboudit. I know that my husband and I have to prepare him for life from the minute he was born. I do love to have this opportunity in my life to teach him right from wrong and all these valuable lessons I once had been taught. My son soaks up all these values we live by; how we work, how we clean, what we do on a daily basis and most importantly we serve as an example in his life that he can trust us unconditionally. 

To teach him that the little things in life are important and not materialistic possessions is key for us. We teach him that it is not important to have the coolest, hippest clothes; that there are other values in life which are way more important than what he wears. He will know that the key to happiness is not how much you own and we will teach him the pursuit of happiness. However, there will be a time when he will be out there exploring, wanting things but if we lead by example in living a content life with less possessions and more happiness because of it he will see that it is possible to do without X,Y and Z. I hear all the time from friends that the kids throw tantrums in the store, scream and cry because they want to get something. My son is good so far. No tantrums yet and I hope it stays that way. He does not have many toys; he has enough let’s say but loves to play outside with dirt. Go figure. 

We are in control of our lives and we most certainly don’t have to live like everybody else. My son is not old enough yet to understand all this but he will realize that things are different in our family and home. Our lifestyle allows him to travel the world but to live minimalistic so to speak. He travels with his little suitcase and explores with us as long as is able to before school starts; this way he can enjoy being a globetrotter together with his parents from a very young age on. I think these are great examples to set. It is not complicated to take him anywhere at this point. He is an awesome travel companion. 

I want to lead by example in showing him that we do not need to buy everything we see or like. I want to teach him later on that we still don’t buy certain things even though we do have the money. A lot of stuff we purchase is  useless if you really think about it. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t let my son run around in garbage bags and let him play with two sticks and a rock. 😀 Now that we go to the playgrounds regularly I think it is important that he learns to share things with others. He has to learn that it is not all about him and if he has two apples he can give one to the other kid. I want him to grow up in a clean environment and not a dirty messy house. So every evening when we ate dinner we play for a bit longer and clean up together before I bring him to bed. It works fine so far; sometimes he even starts to clean on his own. 

Lastly I want to emphasize how important it is to spend time with my son. Just to BE with him you know. Not on the phone, not doing something else, just listen to him and give him my undivided attention. Of course this is not possible all the time and I do love my new iPhone but just think about it while watching this video. “Sometimes we have to disconnect”. Thank you for reading. 



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