Spend Time With Your Kids and Create Your Pedigree

As mentioned before, traveling full time allows us to be with friends and family to celebrate different events.  This year we stayed in Spokane through Thanksgiving to allow us to visit with family during the holiday.  While celebrating at my parent’s house I realized how much of an impact we have on our children.

My dad learned how to be a dad from his father.  In turn I saw how my father raised us as children and used those observations to raise my children.  My kids will take those memories and use them to raise their children….and so on.  With this in mind, it’s important that we set a good example while raising our children.  Everything we say or do creates a memory in our children’s minds and they will process it and use it as they become parents.  Do we make mistakes?  Of course….but the love and time spent with our children will create wonderful memories that they will pass on to their kids.
We live in an electronic age.  It’s easy to use electronics to “pacify” kids.  A balance of electronics is fine but shouldn’t be the go-to activity to occupy their time.  Spend some time with your children.  Play outdoors with them.  Read them a story.  Put together a puzzle.  Play a game.  Show them how much you love them by spending quality time with them.  In turn, they will remember those times and hopefully recreate the memories as they become parents.
I love my parents very much, as I’m sure we all do.  The lessons that I learned from them have instilled memories that I will never forget….and I think that’s why I like to travel like we do.  Some of my fondest memories growing up are from our family outings in tents and travel trailers.  My mom and dad were great examples and I hope that I have passed on those same traits to my children.  It’s important to create a “pedigree” of quality time and love in our family trees.