Free AI web copilot to create summaries, insights and extended knowledge, download it at here
2944
Abstract
better life for his own family.</li></ul><div id="873a" class="link-block">
<a href="https://readmedium.com/5-of-the-simplest-yet-most-essential-marriage-tips-e031b9923730">
<div>
<div>
<h2>5 of the Simplest Yet Most Essential Marriage Tips</h2>
<div><h3>That I want my newly married son to know</h3></div>
<div><p>medium.com</p></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*_bZjdnjWjiTqSBuv)"></div>
</div>
</div>
</a>
</div><ul><li>My second son, J, is 25-years-old. He is smart, bright, and independent, and one of the funniest people I know.</li><li>My baby, A, is 20-years-old. He is the last one at home and is creating a financially secure future for himself while he is here.</li></ul><h2 id="dbf3">What I learned over the years</h2><p id="95c6">My situation with E was a little different than it was with the other two. E’s dad was not around after my son turned 1-year-old. I raised E on my own until he was 5-years-old. I made quite a few mistakes with my little experiment baby!</p><p id="d5ba"><b>I fed him way too many Happy Meals</b>. Being poor and single with a baby, the lure of the dollar menu, and Happy Meals at McDonald’s was unavoidable in my young, innocent mind. Vegetables were scarce, if at all. It wasn’t until I met my husband and we had J that veggies were introduced to E.</p><p id="3b4f"><i>Fast-forward to our current timeline:</i> My 2 younger sons love a variety of vegetables, E does not like any except for corn.</p><p id="1328"><i>Takeaway:</i> Even though E was under the age of 5 and he doesn’t mentally remember all of the trips through McDonald’s drive-thru’s, his taste buds do.</p><p id="a8cd"><i>Advice:</i> Start introducing a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, all different types of foods as soon as your child starts eating solid foods. It may make all the difference in how healthy they eat when they grow up.</p><p id="ee49"><b>I never criticized his absent father.</b> Raising a child on your own can certainly be stressful. Money, time, day-to-day help, all of this can become overwhelming. Even though E’s father had a drug problem and spent many years in prison, I resolved to never speak ill of him. I didn’t praise or acknowledge his activities in a positive light to his son. I only spoke the truth. “Your dad cannot see you this weekend” was the most common phrase my son heard growing up about his dad.</p><p id="5852"><i>Fast-forward to our current timeline: </i>My son grew up knowing which parent was always there for him and which one wasn’t. Without me ever having to denounce his father.</p><p id="b312"><i>Takeaway:</i> Actions speak louder than words. Always have, always will.</p><p id="09b6"><i>Advice:</i> It doesn’t matter if you are a single
Options
parent or two parents raising a child together, never speak badly about the child’s other parent. Children are too young and impressionable to be able to discern a negative comment said out of anger or frustration. There is never a need or reason to subject a child to that type of conversation.</p><p id="d9d0"><b>SpongeBob babysat my son quite often.</b> Cartoons and video games become an easy distraction for a busy mom. Attempting to do all of the daily chores after working a full day can get tiresome with a toddler following you around. Plop the child in front of the television and you have a free 25 minutes to get something done. Unfortunately, the time spent in front of the TV instead of sitting down and reading with my son affected his reading ability in school.</p><p id="9269">I was babysitting a friend’s daughter one day, who was the same age as E. They were both in 1st grade at the time. As E was watching cartoons, I noticed the little girl was reading a chapter book. The next day I went to the school and spoke to E’s teacher, and she let me know that he was way behind in his reading skills. She had sent home notes in his backpack, but since E never mentioned the notes, I never saw them. As a first-time parent, it didn’t even dawn on me to look through his backpack except for the homework!</p><p id="b3ed"><i>Fast forward to our current timeline:</i> I was able to get E into an afterschool program that helped him learn how to read, then we had to work on his comprehension. All of this should have been caught while he was in kindergarten. He can read and comprehend just fine now, but he does not enjoy reading as a hobby because it was so much trouble when he was younger.</p><p id="126c"><i>Takeaway:</i> I learned from that huge mistake with E and spent a lot of time with J and A learning how to read.</p><p id="9991"><i>Advice:</i> Spend time with your child as often as possible reading books. Start practicing sound out words and reinforce reading comprehension along the way.</p><p id="d19c" type="7">“Many times what we perceive as an error or failure is actually a gift. And eventually, we find that lessons learned from that discouraging experience prove to be of great worth.” — Richelle E. Goodrich</p><p id="452d">These are but a few of the many mistakes I made with my experiment child. Luckily, none of them were life-threatening or insurmountable!</p><p id="83da">Please do not worry first-time parents! You too shall follow the path the rest of us constructed on first-hand fumbles and come out just fine on the other side.</p><p id="16a3">Know that everything you are doing for your child is out of pure love, and all will be fine in the long run.</p><p id="decf"><a href="https://forms.aweber.com/form/94/1904492394.htm"><b>Tap Here to sign up for Julene’s Musings newsletter and get your FREE PDF of the 500 most commonly misspelled words and their definitions!</b></a></p></article></body>
