As a parent, there are many things that you will learn. Whether you are having your first child or completing your own personal 5-a-side football team, each child will teach you something new. However, there are some things that parents should make sure that they know. Regardless of how old your children are, and how many you have, you need to make sure you can support them with all the right knowledge, no matter what it might be.
Term Dates
Nice and simply, do you know when term dates are? It can be hard enough when your children are all in the same school, but things can become a lot more complicated when you have children in different schools who might start or finish on the same day.
Who needs to be up early and packed off with a nutritious lunch? Who will be home late because their after-school club is starting up again? Does anyone need new school uniform? When are the inset days? These are all vital questions that you need to know – especially as you don’t want your children to either miss a day of school or to turn up to an empty playground when they should still be at home.
Parental Rights
No one wants to think about what would happen if they were to split up with their partner, but it is something that should be thought about and discussed. There is no guarantee that you will be together forever, and you need to know what your rights are individually as parents. This will help you move forward and create an amicable co-parenting agreement with your partner that will only benefit your children.
For example, it is vital that both of you know and understand the rights of fathers post-divorce in the UK, in addition to those of mothers. Understanding the position and rights that both of you hold could make things much easier for you to come to a reasonable agreement about what is best for your children and your future as co-parents.
There is No Right Way to Do Things
When parenting, it can be really easy to compare yourself to your friends and the parents of your children’s friends. However, what might work for them will not necessarily work for you and your parents. Some households can thrive when their children are being ferried from one activity to the next and are always on the move. That does not mean that this is something you should emulate for your own children – they could quickly become overworked and over-stimulated.
You need to work with your children as a family unit to come up with a weekly schedule that works for them. With the right activities, your children should flourish and be happy to pick up new skills. However, if they seem reluctant to go to some of the clubs, it might be time to move on and find something new that will spark interest in them once more.
Though there are many books and resources out there, there is – unfortunately – no exact all-in-one guide to being a parent. Instead, you need to make sure that you are listening to your children and your partner to ensure that you can forge the best possible life for all of you. Do so, and you should be able to create a family life that is as happy as can be regardless of the challenges that you might face. This is ultimately all you can do as a parent. Though you might make mistakes as you go, knowing how to recover from them will be key.
