Parenting isn't just about mothering anymore. Fathering is a large part of it too. And for the past few decades, raising children has shifted from a mother-dominant field to a father-AND-mother field.
I was reading this article from the New York Times the other day and found some really interesting study results when you cut out the father from the whole parenting picture.
In the study, the fathers who were more involved with child rearing had a huge positive impact on their kids. Just check out this line from the article:
"[The fathers] became more emotionally involved with their children, and the children were much less aggressive, hyperactive, depressed or socially withdrawn than children of fathers in the control group."
Dads, it's about time the world see's how important you really are! As some of you may know, Jake (my ex) and I are divorced and have shared custody of our girls. We are complete opposites (which is why the marriage didn't work) but one thing we do share is a respect for each other as people and the importance we both play in our girls' lives. Because we are so different, the girls learn many things about life during their time with him that are not my strong suits...
And another super important thing they learn by watching us interact, is how a man should treat a woman (and to a lesser extant how a woman should treat a man
I don't mean to get all SHOULDY on you here, but I think it is so important that my girls see how a man treats a woman with kindness, respect and caring - even though we are divorced he treats me incredibly well and I hope my girls grow up and choose men that treat them the same way their dad treats me!
Anyway, I recommend you read the rest of the article. It really reminded me how important dads are and made me happy that my girls have such a great male role model in their life!
So I want to let it be officially known that 
The best thing about children is that they are born with a sense of personal power. They come into this world already programmed with this amazing confidence and belief in themselves. It is a lesson they learn from others (mainly adults) that they have no power. Most adults are not doing this on purpose, they are just not aware of the way their actions and words disempower children.
Parenting advice doesn't have to just come from a parenting guru, another mother, or an educational institute. Sometimes, it's in places no one has ever thought to look. Like in the history books!
If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.
Sometimes we're so concerned about giving our children what we never had growing up, we neglect to give them what we did have growing up.
Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.
You taught me to be nice, so nice that now I am so full of niceness, I have no sense of right and wrong, no outrage, no passion.
I finally couldn't stand it any more - why can't all the voices just let me dwell in my misery? How did this little band of cheerleaders get into my head anyway? So I finally broke down and broke the 1 rule no self-respecting mom/business owner/personal development junkie should ever do - I just took a nap. That's right, my crazy workaholic, overachieving self laid down at 1 in the afternoon and just went to sleep.
