What I Would Have Done Differently

Now that my kids are mostly grown I look back over the years and think about what I would have done differently.

1. Sleep.  Most of us make mistakes on the first child and then do better with the second. I was no different.  If I had to do it all over again I would not have jumped up and picked up my son evey time he fussed or made a noise at night. I would also have started teaching him to put himself to sleep about 3-4 months of age instead of relying on being rocked to sleep.  (My second child was a better sleeper due to these lessons I learned the hard way.)

2. Food.  If I had a chance to do it over again I would give more fruits and veggies, less processed food and less fast food.  This is a continual work in process.

3. Teeth brushing. When my son was in high school he had braces on for 4 years. The orthodontist lectured him again and again about brushing his teeth.  I nagged for awhile and eventually gave up. Well, the orthdontist was right and he ended up with spots on his teeth because he didn't brush well.  If I had to do it again I would have tried harder to get him to take care of his teeth.  (Now I'm making him pay his dental bills.  If that's not motivation I don't know what is!)

4. Junk.  A couple of years ago my family cleaned out the kid's bedrooms when my son moved out.  I could not believe the amount of junk that had amassed over the years!  Some things were beloved toys but others were things that had been barely played with.  If I had to do it again I would have tried to buy less stuff.  I also would have been more adamant about throwing away or not bringing home the things like Happy Meal toys or freebies from things like school carnivals.

5.  Live in the moment.  If I had a chance to do it all over again I would have enjoyed my kids more and stressed less about the little things. As we all know time passes quickly and they are grown and gone before we know it.

Next up will be what I wouldn't have changed about raising my kids.

Teen Driver Safety, the Obvious and Not So Obvious

My family has been living teen driver safety over the past 2 months.  We enrolled our youngest (just turned 16) in driver training over the summer.  The training included classes for her as well as one for the parents.  A lot of time was spent in class talking about drinking and driving, texting and driving, and distracted driving  (other teens in car).  Ironically, two weeks ago my husband and son were hit by a distracted teenage driver.  It was after school and the teen had a friend in the car and they ran a red light and hit my family and then ran into two other cars.  Thankfully there were no life threatening injuries but my son's car was totaled.  The teen was sad and apologetic but it was a painful and expensive way to learn a lesson.  So, here's the obvious lesson, talk to your teen repeatedly about these issues.  Car accidents are the leading cause of death and disability in teens.

Onto the not so obvious lesson.  Last night our son dropped his sister off at dance.  As she was getting out of the car he started to pull away before she was completely out of the car. Thankfully she was fine.  In thinking back I see about 1-2 injuries a year in a teen when getting in or out of a car. It is always a teen driver (most often an older brother!)  It never occurred to me to discuss passenger safety with my kids but clearly this is a unaddressed topic.