Based on the popular book, “Queen Bees and
Wannabes” by Rosalind
Wiseman, Tina Fey’s movie “Mean Girls” resonated deeply with me as a girl who
survived high school. Watching the movie again, now that I am a parent of
girls, is an even scarier endeavor.
Navigating the world of girls is not an easy one, but you can
help your daughter by modeling the behavior you would like her to have.
Ideally, we would always remain calm, cool and confident in all scenarios, but
reality is not always so.
Life is messy and having the best of intentions doesn’t
always translate into reacting the way you would like to in front of your
children.
So what can we do? Here are 3 tips to try and bring out
the best parts of you in order to model to your children. If you practice these
consistently you will see a turnaround in their behavior, and more importantly,
a real change in yourself.
Get More Sleep
The one behavior that influences all others is sleep. As a
well-rested mom, I wake up in a great mood. Making jokes with my kids while
they eat breakfast and finding the humor in everything seems so natural. As an
exhausted mom, however, I am barely coherent in the morning. It’s difficult to
make positive conversation with my kids and sometimes I send them off to school
regretting our interactions.
If you can relate to this, I highly recommend the book,
The Harvard Medical School Guide to a Good Night's Sleep by Lawrence J.
Epstein, which you can find reviewed here. Read about what
sleep deprivation does to your brain and learn real ways to get more sleep into
your life. This is a true game changer.
Take Control of Your Nutrition
It’s difficult to get the proper amounts of nutrients we
need everyday. Instead of feeling guilt after finding no more vegetables left in
your fridge, know that you’re covered with natural supplements. Whether you
have a lack of B vitamins or need help losing 5lbs, these are easy ways to
enhance your daily nutrition.
Taking care of yourself is crucial, especially as the mom
of girls. They will mimic your self-care behavior as they get older. Let them
become women who know how important it is to look after their nutrition. To see
a list of supplements, what they do and reviews on their cost effectiveness,
check out www.researchandyou.com.
Get Active
Fathers and sons have been bonding over baseball since the
game was invented, and for good reason. It’s no secret that exercising is good
for you and makes you feel even better. As you exercise, specific chemicals
are released in your brain, and you feel amazing.
In addition, having an activity where neither parent nor
child has to spill their inner secrets is great bonding and opens up the
possibility of secret sharing for another time.
Ask your daughter to go for a walk or do a HIIT workout
together. Do something bigger than yourselves where you can work up a sweat. It
will make a nice change from trying to nudge her out of bed in the morning and
give you a real reason to smile at each other.
Disclosure: This is a contributed post.
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