Be a Better Parent Challenge - Day 20 - Keep a journal

So I'm curious to know how yesterday went for all of you. I imagine that giving up control and letting your spouse parent, at least for many of us, is more than a one day challenge. But at least infusing the idea of it into your thought process, if only for a day, might help you be more vigilant of it in the coming weeks and months.

Now I always find it interesting that people find it easy to keep a food journal or even an exercise journal, but many don't consider keeping a parenting journal.

And no, I'm not talking about a blog. (Nice try).

I'm talking about a notebook or even an email address where you keep (or send) the daily happenings in your experience as a parent. What worked? What didn't? How can you take those experiences and learn from them the next day?

We're taught to learn from our mistakes, and evaluate our own behavior and performance, at least when it comes to jobs anyway, so why should parenting be any different? We're certainly not born experts at this, and even more challenging is that once we seem to master something, our kids grow and change, which seems to push us right back to the novice side of things.

So #20: Keep a Parenting Journal

It doesn't have to be pretty or neat, and you don't even have to write in full sentences. But write down the key happenings so that you can read back later on and hopefully better inform your parenting.

And if you're late to the game, don't worry - I'm keeping track of all the Be a Better Parent challenges so you can start from the beginning!

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Separately, I'm working on a Sometimes Single Mom project and I could use your input, particularly if you have a spouse that travels (for any amount of time - short business trips, deployments, you name it). Please head over to my column for more info - but I need your help!

Comments

[Debi (Truthful Mommy)]

Kristen,
My husband ,who I am in fact very happily married to, works in another state during the week ( Just love this economy). So every single week, I single mother it. It is HARD!He comes home on the weekends but all the day to day, ballet, school, meetings, errands..all me, all the time. I sometimes feel like a cat on a ledge! My girls are 3 & 5 and we've been doing this for about 6 months. I would love to help you with input for your Sometimes Single Mother project.I am bookmarking the project to follow. I also have been doing the Be A Better Parent Challenge and sharing it with my readers, they love it. You've inspired me to do a type of challenge of my own next month:)If you'd like some input fro your project please feel free to contact me:) Happy Mothering!

[Elizabeth]

Yesterday I left my husband with my son and went to the store. He gave my kid the iPod touch and fell asleep on the couch. Dad was rested (it's his bday today) and kid was happy and all was okay with the world.

Amazing.