@mommaloudon: Here’s the point I hope parents of small children hear: The years 0-8 matter most! INVEST IN THOSE YEARS! Early childhood is a period of extraordinary brain plasticity. Their brains are like sponges…literally being built through repeated experiences, relationships, modeling, and interaction…often years before they’ll retain conscious memories of any of it. Those ordinary years of repetition matter. Be intentional by teaching them the things that will have the most impact on who they will become. Name your values. Teach your values through children’s stories. Model your values. Talk about them. Create expectations around them. Notice and positively reinforce them when you see them. Build a family culture where those values are simply “what we do.” Not because it guarantees an outcome. It doesn’t. But because those are the years when you have the most influence over shaping your child at an identity level. Eventually, your job changes. You stop laying the foundation and start stepping back so they can decide what to build on it. And if you’re currently watching an older child choose differently than you hoped, I hope you heard this part too: Their current choices are not necessarily a final verdict on your parenting…or on who they will eventually become. Our children have agency. They will make mistakes, question things we taught them, make choices we wouldn’t make, and sometimes need distance from us to figure out where we end and they begin. And I actually think there’s something healthy (and developmentally appropriate) about that. I did that with my parents. I’ve watched my adult children do some version of it at some point, too. The goal is to give them a strong enough foundation that someday they can stand on it. ❤️ What is something your parents planted in you that you didn’t appreciate (or even recognize) until you were older? #Motherhood #IntentionalParenting #Parenting #FamilyCulture #ParentingWithPurpose

Momma Loudon

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Wednesday 09 September 2026 02:38:16 GMT