I woke up with conflicting feelings about my personal approach to raising my son. Some mommies will find my articles interesting and helpful, while others will probably judge my point of view and the actions that I follow strictly as a strategy. But anyway, I always maintain a smart balance between my son and me. I follow my gut on how to continue inspiring, teaching, and developing his restless world to achieve as much as we can together.
If you want your child to become different than his peers, first you have to spin your outlook wider and be ready for the long-term… The key to raising a well-rounded kid is that it is important to build a solid environment at home to help your child understand and be inspired by future achievements and ambitions. It is not easy, but it is possible, for sure. I am not an educational therapist, I am just a regular mother with different ambitions for my son.
During my pregnancy, my temptation and striving had already diverged. My husband and I discussed the first fundamental base of how we wanted our son be raised and developed. The goal was to help our son grow to be self-sufficient and competent and assist him in developing a sense of passion and purpose.
So the first purpose became academic learning. Like I mentioned in my previous articles, “Kumon” and “Baby Can Read” were my first, small goals where I began to educate his brain. It takes so much consistency, patience, and dedication. Not every parent can handle this path, but I decided I would do my best to accomplish the best results. My son was 20 months old when he learned how to read.
I stopped sharing my objectives for raising my son because of judgmental thinking of other mommies. And it is ok, everybody is different and has their own opinion that I respect. But to follow my goals, I had to isolate my mind from misunderstanding and concentrate on what was really significant to me. But today, I want to discuss this topic openly. Going through academic learning, my son and I had so much fun. The best way to educate a toddler’s brain is to turn each learning goal into a game to play. It is a very healthy way to begin to build the main key of success for the future.
My son’s reading and math abilities were always off the chart, but I prefer not to label him as “smart” or “talented.” I awarded him sincerely with a wide smile, saying, “What a great job you did!” or “I am proud of your hard work so much.” In my opinion, kids with a fixed mindset are usually resistant towards challenges because they think their accomplishments come from inborn abilities. It is not bad thinking, but I want my son to have a growth mindset where he is ready to face challenges with hard work, because growth comes from learning new skills. I just try to help my son understand that the grade he gets in school should not motivate him, but the inner drive should always inspire him to any success.
Educating his brain is one of my main purposes. Another is to keep him physically active. Sports! Sports are extremely great for physical fitness and developing the body, but also for teamwork, leadership, challenges, setting goals, and having a coach show them how to be teachers themselves. Also, success comes in many forms, and athleticism is one of them. Although I’m not sure if my son will become an Olympic athlete or obtain a scholarship in sports. But physical activity is still my goal, and just like many parents of athletes, we want to show our son that there is opportunity in this field and he should never give up.
Most sports stars start with nothing, and it’s hard work and determination to compete (along with natural ability) that lead them on a successful path. This is what we want for our son, and we’re lucky enough to live in an area with Olympic training facilities for swimming, a water polo team in the summers, a great Tae Kwon Do instructor, and even ex-NBA players teaching basketball to kids. It would be wrong not to take advantage of these opportunities!
I want to encourage all moms not to be afraid to challenge or inspire their kids. Do not be afraid to have a dream and share it with your kid. Start with a small thing and openly step further towards new accomplishments. If you have a happy and trustful relationship with your kid, you can overcome mountains together on a healthy journey. Of course, this journey can be full of unexpected moments, difficulties, and sometimes even disappointments. But life is like a deep ocean of challenges and accomplishments, growth and learning, winning, and even falling.
Some parents are afraid of challenges, thinking that they take away their kid’s childhood and their kids will hate them when they grow up. In my opinion, kids need a fundamental direction to focus their skills, to reach for their dreams, to have a sense of certainty and confidence, to face adversity and overcome it. There is nothing wrong with having a dream for your kid or a strategy for how to raise your kid. There is nothing wrong with keeping them busy educationally and physically. In a healthy family environment, we can plant a seed, live a healthy lifestyle, and then see what kind of direction our son will grow into.
Hopefully, my article will help mommies make decisions on how to bring up their child.