How do you raise a family if you are an older parent and you have young children or adolescents?
While the norm is to raise a family while you are in your twenties or thirties, you can raise a family at any age. The traditional family is being replaced by new cultural patterns. It might be a blended family, where two families come together. It might be families that adopt children. It might be grandparents raising their grandchild. In these situations, a parent or caregiver could be in their forties, fifties or even sixties.
Here are 4 tips to help you raise a family even if you are an older parent.
- Take care of your health.
Parenting can be very difficult if you are not in good health. You should never underestimate the power of a good diet, regular exercise, and sufficient rest for good health.
A good diet should include organic foods. It consists of a balanced proportion of macronutrients like carbohydrates, proteins, and healthy fats, as well as micronutrients like vitamins and minerals. Also be sure to drink plenty of water throughout the day.
A regular exercise plan should incorporate flexibility, cardiovascular exercise, and strength building.
Getting sufficient rest means getting as much rest as your body needs to recover from a long day. If your body needs 8 hours rest, don’t sleep for 6 hours, hoping to get more time in the day. This doesn’t work because you’re going against your body’s natural circadian rhythm and you haven’t given yourself enough time to recuperate.
If you are an older parent or caregiver, you may also have conditions like arthritis or hemorrhoids, which can get in the way of being the proactive role model you hoped to be. Fortunately, there are many effective arthritis creams or natural hemorrhoids products that either mitigate the symptoms or help resolve the issue altogether.
- Make dinner a family ritual.
Although the idea of people eating whenever their schedules permit has become the new cultural norm, it has not worked out too well for family life. Today’s family members are often alienated from each other. So, you should make dinner a part of your family ritual—for at least a few days of the week and for at least 30 minutes.
Having dinner together may not seem like a big deal, but the psychological effects can be profound. Children who eat dinner with their parents are less likely to be involved in drugs or alcohol, suffer from anxiety or depression, or become sexually promiscuous at a young age.
On the positive side, they are more likely to do well academically, participate more actively in school events, and have a more balanced and mature perspective.
You don’t have to do anything special during these dinners to create these effects. The mere act of having dinner together becomes a family bonding ritual.
- Introduce structure and balance.
Structures don’t just help children feel more secure or families to have more harmony but help everyone, from an adolescent to a housewife to a corporate executive.
Structure consists of having goals, plans, and routines. Without structure, there is merely haphazard activity and the frustration of things not working out.
Despite the importance of structure to live an organized, well-managed, productive life, many families have a laissez faire attitude when raising children. Parents with this permissive attitude behave in a reactive way, trying to make up for their own childhood raised by overly dominating parents.
Insisting on structure, however, is not about control issues. It’s only about creating order over chaos, intention over whim, and discipline over indulgence.
Trusting children to have the wisdom to figure everything out on their own is unrealistic. Children brought up without structure tend to feel lost when they become adults.
Structure helps families enjoy a feeling of safety and harmony, and it gives children a sense of mastery over their own fate.
- Instill a love of learning.
The most important thing you can do to help your children be successful in life is to encourage them to become life-long learners.
Education improves choices. Armed with knowledge and skills, a person can accomplish amazing things and live a wonderful life.
However, education is not merely schooling. Going to school does not necessarily excite a love for learning. Many students who go to school are having difficulty with basic skills like reading and mathematics.
A love of learning is something else. While it can happen in school, it can also happen at home, simply by having a book or laptop open. An educated person is someone who has a love for learning, and some of the well-educated people have been self-taught. Albert Einstein did not do well in school, but his apartment in Zurich was filled with books.
When you choose to instill a love of learning in your children, you are pushing them toward being interested in education. One way to instill this appreciation for learning is by talking about the many benefits of learning. Another way is to make learning more of a game than a chore.
A love of learning is also thwarted by the predominance of available entertainment. While entertainment may pleasantly stimulate the mind, education will give a person the foundations for a significant life.
Challenging yet Rewarding
Raising a family is challenging, but one of the most rewarding things you can do. The best way to do it well is by learning how to be a parent rather than just winging it and hoping for the best.