Building on being a better parent

Christmas was an amazing and beautiful time for myself and my little family. It was the first time that I have been able to spend the holiday season with my son. It showed me that the big decision that myself and Mr A was so right and it makes the hard times so worth it.
Spending that much quality time with your child, constant quality time is very new to myself and Mr A. Tor is either at school for part of the day or visiting his Dad for some of the weekend so the length of time we spend together as a family added together is not actually that much. Therefore two solid weeks was beautiful but also a eye opener.

As with all things, I look into them too deeply, I care far too much and want to set things right if needed. There were a few things I had noticed about my relationship with Tor that I felt needed working on or tweaking so to speak.

The biggest eye opener were our table manners as a family. Tor has never been a sit still on the spot for longer than five minutes kind of child which matches his bouncing personality but I noticed how through being a little lazy on my part I had not provided him with the right guidance so that table times were a happy occasions, especially at other peoples houses or a cafe or restaurants.

Our normal dinner time was at the table, netflix on the television. When Tor had finished he always asked to leave the table politely and then went to eat pudding or a treat on his bean bag watching the television even if we were still finishing or dinner.

Not too bad really in a busy household and I do not think it would be a issue if Tor's table manners in different places were good but they are not. Therefore we have implemented some changes in the Torsmum household.

Something that we had always noticed with Tor and something I have looked at time and again throughout the years, was the effect that any 'screen time' has on Tor. He is a very active and enthusiastic child but after just half an hour of watching television or playing on a tablet, pc or games console his activity increased to a level that I find difficult to handle. I'm meaning, jumping off the furniture, talking non-stop, whinging, shouting, being overly emotional kind of active.

Some of the ideas that I have had in the past have worked and have showed me that there definitely is a correlation in screen time and behaviour. The issue I have had is that due to our busy lives and due to laziness on my part these ideas have faded out and the problem therefore still stands. Therefore we have implemented some changes in the Torsmum household.

The last part of our relationship that I focused on is what we actually do together. Not really a lot. We are together, we have time playing games and reading, but to me this wasn't enough. I personally wanted to make a change to how I parent, how I play, to encourage Tors amazing imagination. To ensure that we have the best time when we are together.

I am taking 2016 by storm. We are going to make 2016 the best time ever. We are going to grow as a little family and myself and Mr A are going to guide and encourage Tor as well as we can on his amazing journey through life.

We are near the finish of Week one of January. I had some surprises in store for Tor, which have gone very well. So keep a check on the blog for new posts on our new weekly regimes.

Happy New Year!