3 Ways to Bond with Baby, Big Sibling & Pets
Did you know Kevin and I are both only children? Parenting siblings was something I’ve always been so intimidated about. Now we are 10 months into it, here are 3 things we’ve learned! Hopefully this will help you ease the nerves about bringing home baby to big sibling!
Make big sibling a part of EVERYTHING
One of the biggest tips you guys gave me when I was pregnant was to start early and make big sister a part of everything we do. I used to tell Kai “you, me and daddy are having a baby”. I always referred to Bodhi as OUR baby. She was so proud of her big sister role that by the time Bodhi arrived, she knew exactly what she wanted to do. I was honestly concerned about them bonding because of their age gap but I never imagined we would be asking her to give him some personal space. She can’t keep her hands off him! One of her “big sister jobs” is to help change Bodhi’s diaper. She loves the Seventh Generation Sensitive Protection prints and gets so excited when she gets to choose one for him. She talks through the patterns with him and tells him about protecting animals and being kind to our planet. It’s really the sweetest thing!
2. Connect on common interests and enjoy mother earth together
To piggyback on 5 things to do with your kids today to help take care of our planet blog post, I strongly encourage a change of scenery or getting outside when everyone is buzzing. Some days, just grounding our toes makes a world of difference. When the kids (human or furry) are outside, they are crawling, digging in the dirt, just bonding over nature. That’s why it’s so important for us to serve our environment when it comes to making small changes for the future. I am so grateful for the commitment Seventh Generation has made for our future. They recently launched the first and only USDA Certified Biobased 30% Diapers with an ultra-absorbent core made with FSC® certified sustainably sourced fluff and 0% chlorine bleaching. Bodhi is now wiggling all over the place. These diapers are amazing at holding everything in plus they are fragrance & lotion free.
3. Shift mentality with positive parenting
I am just now digging into the ins and outs of positive parenting but it’s been a huge mental shift. When you praise positive outcomes and encourage with positive rewards vs calling out negative behavior, it gives the kids guidance on desired behavior. Example: this is a negative statement “If we don’t share the toy with brother, I will just take it away”. Now let’s put a positive spin: “All the kids who share toys together get to pick out our next activity (or game, or what movie we get to watch tonight)”. This applies so much into a positive relationship between siblings. You can 100% take any statement and put a positive spin on it. The response from Kai has been really huge.
Our babies are growing so fast in the blink of an eye. We can’t stop time but we can absolutely impact the surroundings they grow up in. When we choose to focus on things like positive space, being aware of the environment, we are guiding our babies to become future kind humans.
Our children have the potential to do so much. We can help guide them to become future world changers by setting great examples on how to take care of our planet.
