Over the past couple weeks I've been interviewing moms and dads on behalf of a local startup organization aimed at helping parents connect. Several have mentioned putting a priority on helping build relationships & support between their kids, which I just love.
One family has scaled down extracurricular activities to allow their kids enough time in the yard together. Aware that she and her husband won't always be around, this mom knows how important it is to give the sibs time now to bond, have fun, and learn to share and negotiate with one another--so that later on, if times get tough they'll have a foundation for mutual support.
Another mom re-entered full-time work last year and has four kids at home. The transition has pushed her to insist they help each other with things like homework, even implementing a policy whereby she won't assist unless they've tried more than once on their own, while she's at work, and asked a sibling for help. Depending on the kids' ages and personalities, this could be tricky, but I love the idea of making sibling support a standard operating procedure for homework.
A third parent talked about how the youngest kid in a family is often dragged around to older siblings' sports games and events, then when it's his/her turn on the field, nobody shows. In their family, the expectation is that the boys will attend as many of their brothers' events as possible. This was inspiring to me, as getting our 2 less sporty kids to their brother's ballgames has been a challenge. Something to work on.
(photo: parents.com)
I LOVE this !
ReplyDeleteMy brother and I were best friends and I want my kids to have a great relationship with each other too.
My brother has been gone for 13 years (he died at 30) and I miss him a ton, but I'm glad we were close.
Organically Yours,
Diana