Soft and Strong: My Parenting Story
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Recently I was asked by Charmin and Social Moms to share a time when I had to act soft or strong in my life and with my family.
It can be tough raising a son. Cam is an only child and strong-willed! He is used to getting his way. I've found that I have to be both soft and strong when raising him. For example, I want him to be a compassionate, kind person so it's important to model for him kind, soft behavior. I also want him to be helpful to others and I demonstrate that by volunteering and helping others.
Every year, we help out with Goodwill, Toys for Tots and Angel Tree. Cam likes to help pick out toys for Toys for Tots and go with me to donate them at Toys R Us. We also buy a special toy and outfit for a child on the Angel Tree list. I want to instill in him at an early age, that helping others is important.
Also, going to church and prayer is an important part of our family. We talk about things we are going through and pray for others.
As for being strong, anyone who has a preteen in the house knows it can be tough! Just yesterday Cam was a little toddler and now he's almost taller than me! At 10 years old and an only child, he pushes the limits a lot. He is also whip smart and knows how to manipulate me. I admit, I am a push-over. He is my only child and I like spoiling him. But I know I have to place limits and that’s when I have to be strong.
For example, he loves LEGOs. He has been asking for a certain LEGO set for a long time. With it being expensive, I didn’t feel it was responsible for me to give him such a LEGO set (over $100) when it wasn’t his birthday or Christmas. We save the big LEGO sets for holidays and birthdays. All summer, he asked for LEGO Epic Dragon battle every.single.day. It was a long summer. I told him countless times to save up his allowance for it, trying to teach him the value of money.
He started to save his money and eventually, he got to $50 and decided to spend it on a video game instead! Giving him the choice was the best thing I could do and at age 10, he is getting old enough to learn how to save money. It’s also an important lesson for him to learn the consequences for wasting money.
He is a good kid and I am so lucky to be his mom!
Charmin launched a campaign of its own this election year by asking fans across the country to vote for your favorite Charmin: Ultra Soft or Ultra Strong. Be sure to check out their The Charmin 2012 Election and you could win weekly prizes, including a year’s supply of Charmin. Not sure which side to vote for? Take their online quiz and watch the Charmin debate videos by visiting http://facebook.com/Charmin.
Click below to cast your vote!
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I was compensated for this blog post as part of the SocialMoms and Charmin blogging program. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own. For more blog posts on this topic, click here.
