If we put thought into it, it’s easy to see: Your childhood affects your parenting. Lately, I’ve been looking back at how my dad parented me—and I see now that it had a big impact on how I parent. I always knew my dad loved me, but I’m not sure he knew what to do with me. When I was a kid, he would send me to hang out with his friends’ kids or sign me up for day camps at the YMCA. While I knew he loved me, I didn’t know if he wanted me around. I didn’t think he enjoyed spending time with me. Because of this, I make sure I am always telling my kids that I love them and I want them.
There are so many correlations between how you parent today and how you were parented growing up. Spending time evaluating and understanding the impact my parents had on me has forced me to recognize both the healthy and negative ways I parent my own kids. Your origin story, your childhood, affects your parenting. Here are 5 ways I didn’t know my dad impacted how I parent until I took the time to evaluate it.
Read the 5 ways a dad can impact your life by clicking here.
