Every Moment Counts

Written by Kelly Bartlett for Parenting From Scratch.

All of our children’s experiences build foundational circuitry in the brain. New neural pathways form with each interaction and communication our kids have every day. So all those little moments that your kids will not remember from their early childhoods–the conversations, daily carpool rides, trips to the store, board games, dinner time help, homework help, and nightly tucking-ins–are shaping who they are to become. Every moment counts.

Really? (You ask.) Every moment? Even the ones where I may have spoken not-so-nicely to my kids? Even the one in the store the other day when I lost it and hollered at them? Or the one just yesterday when I was fed up with the volume of toys we have that no one picks up so I started tossing them into garbage bags and my kids were devastated and crying? Not my best parenting moment. Are you saying that those moments “count” too? Have I ruined things for my child’s development?
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