Be a Better Parent Challenge - Day 10 - Be the fun one

It's one thing to list out your triggers. It's another to actually keep them in check. How did it go?

I realize that you may, in fact, already be the fun one, but in my humble experience, it's often times the moms that are the keepers of order and the dads/partners who are often considered "the fun ones."

Completely unfair, I tell you.

Unfortunately, it's not feasible to always be the fun one, and I do believe that someone needs to take on that role in a co-parenting relationship. The irony is that in being the keeper of order and enforcer of rules, you actually create a space and environment that can then be fun since kids do thrive on that sort of thing.

However, I always try to do something completely spontaneous and "fun" every once in awhile to change things up and to reward my kids for being awesome.

Keep in mind that I wouldn't just drop a fantastic trip to the museum if your kids have been terrorizing you for the last few days. That's not the greatest type of reinforcement. But if you can find a reason to do something fun, then I say do it!

You don't need to spend a lot of money, or even any money - whether it's an ice cream treat after dinner, a trip to the zoo, a fun picnic lunch, you name it, just do something that's FUN. And enjoy it yourself too.

Are you following along as part of the Be a Better Parent challenge? Tell me how it's going!

Comments

[Julie @ The Mom Slant]

I love doing this. I think I take more pleasure in it than even the kids do, perhaps because it's so unexpected.

[RookieMom Whitney]

I often call it backwards day and we just reverse the order of our normal routine of, tv, dinner, bath. Instead we do bath, dinner, tv and they think it's so much fun to eat dinner in their jammies.

[caramama]

After reading the book Playful Parenting, I realized that I wanted to incorporate the fun into everyday activities, too. I always think about the example of trying to get kids to get dressed: You could constantly demand and yell that they get dressed already and have a big ensuing argument, taking who knows how long... OR you could be playful and have a race to see who can get dressed first and be done with it in a few minutes.

I'm constantly using that technique on teeth brushing, and it really does work.

But I'd like to start doing bigger fun things, like adventures!

[Melanie]

This is a big part of my parenting (and blogging too) philosophy, so this challenge is easy for me :) I'm a single parent with sole custody, the father is not involved at all. So I'm it for Cameron. Lawmaker, enforcer ... and fun parent too ... all rolled into one.

I found last summer when my son was just three that regular 'adventures' helped us both immensely. A year and a bit later, we're still at it.

To make it easier, I've got a bag that Cameron's dubbed "the adventure bag". I've slacked off a bit on this, but generally, it's packed and ready to go with all the essentials. It's (supposed to have) got snacks, sunscreen, first aid kit, sunglasses and sunhats, a toy and crayons for slower moments, that sort of thing.

Sometimes even just a change of scenery - a picnic lunch at a playground across town, bring bubbles - can become a "remember that time when" fun-parent moment.

[Pia]

Thank you for this. It has been fun reading and interesting to do. I am a newly single mom, 3 days telecommuting and 2 days at the office. Both of my boys are in daycare/camp/school 5 days a week. I wish I could spend more time with them when they are around and look forward to the work week when they are around!! I love them like crazy - and following this challenge has put me a little more in tune with them and with myself. Most importantly, I am paying attention to them more acutely and am more aware of myself when I start to boil up.

Thanks for helping me be an even better mom. *My boys already tell me I'm the best mom ever.*