I bet that you have spent hours thinking about how your baby is going to look like. However, I am also sure that the thought of motherhood can be frightening, especially if this is the first time that you are going to bring home a baby from the hospital. The job of being a mother is difficult, and what you should keep in mind is that you will learn everything on the go.

Learning how to take care of newborns is difficult, but it’s also an enriching and amazing experience. If the thought of becoming a new mom is scary to you, then you have arrived at the right place. The reason why I am saying that is because I have prepared a list with five things all first time moms need to know about newborns.

#1 How to Handle a Newborn

If you didn’t spend too much time around newborns, then handling them might seem scary. They are fragile, and we need to be extra careful when holding them in our arms. Here are some tips that experienced mothers have to share about handling newborns:

• Always wash your hands or use hand sanitizers before holding the newborn. Don’t forget that the immune systems of babies take time to become strong;
• Support the baby’s head and neck. You can do this by cradling the head when carrying the baby;
• Do not shake the newborn! The reason why you don’t want to shake the baby, not even in play, is because this can cause bleeding in the brain.

#2 Trust Your Instincts

I am sure that you have heard of the term “maternal instincts”. This is a real thing and my advice to you is always to trust it. If you feel like something strange is going on with your newborn, don’t rely on Google to provide you with answers. Pick up the phone and call a medic as soon as possible. If your maternal instincts are making you uncomfortable about a toy that your baby is playing with, take the toy away! Always trust your gut when it comes to your baby.

#3 Listen to The Baby’s Cues

Another essential tip that is going to help you become a strong mamma is to listen to your baby’s cues. Babies communicate through body language and crying. You should make it your top priority to listen to these cues and learn what they mean. For example, some babies will start sucking their fingers when they start feeling hungry. If you fail to pick up on this cue, you will surely notice the next one because it is crying. So, keep an eye out for small signals and motherhood will be an easier job.

#4 Post-Baby Body

The last thing that you need to worry about when becoming a mom is extra weight. Your body will change significantly during pregnancy, but it doesn’t stop there. Your body will experience changes, even post-pregnancy and it will take you some time before you can get back to where you were. It’s unfortunate that we live in a society where looks matter so much, but you should not be stressed about getting back in shape after having a baby. Your priority should be to make sure that your baby is healthy and happy.

#5 Enjoy Every Moment

Even though the job of a mom is tiring, and you will rarely have time to spend on yourself, you should make it your top priority to enjoy every moment. Babies are adorable when they are little, and you should spend as much time with them as possible because this is not going to last. Babies grow up very quickly, and if you don’t spend all your time by their side, you might miss out on important moments.

I talked with many moms, and they all had the same tip to share with me. They all said that new moms should document every moment from the little one’s life. Take a picture when your baby takes the first bath or eats solid foods for the first time. These moments are incredibly precious, and you will thank yourself for documenting everything as the years go on.

The toughest part about the job of a parent is that it never ends. You are constantly learning new things that are teaching you how to connect with your kids and help them grow. I think it’s safe to say that all moms will agree with me when I say that while parenting might be exhausting, it is also rewarding. There’s nothing that will make you feel better than seeing your kids smile and this is why parenting needs to be done the right way! What’s tricky about parenting is that just like almost everything else, there are trends that you can follow.

The introduction of social media has helped trends spread faster than ever and if you are curious to see what are the latest parenting tips for 2020, then you have arrived at the right website. I have scoured the web in search for the best parenting tips for 2020 and today I am going to present it all to you! Without any further ado, let’s get into it.

#1 Sleep is Important!

In this day and age, social media has most people believing that we shouldn’t sleep more than six hours. All influencers are saying that we need to be productive and to work all day long. However, this is not the case for kids! Even though kids will hardly admit that they feel tired, you still need to set a bedtime that allows them to get enough sleep to grow healthy and strong.

The most important rule that you need to respect when setting the bedtime for your kids is to be consistent. However, you need to be strict about the bedtime and not let them oversleep. Luckily, this is not going to happen if you run a tight schedule and they get all the sleep and rest that they need during the regular bedtime hours.

#2 Control Your Emotions

While the previous parenting tip was about making sure that your kids are well rested, the second one on our list focuses on you. It’s easy to get angry or upset when your kids make a mess around the house. However, this doesn’t mean that staying angry or scolding them is a normal reaction. You should never let your emotions get the best of you. Responding in the heat of the moment is not going to lead to a good outcome.

Learning how to control your emotions is not easy, I’ll give you that. This takes practice but fortunately, it’s all worth it in the end. Your kids will appreciate you even more if you control your emotions and avoid overly-harsh punishments. Not just that, but you will become a great role model for your kids because you will show them that staying focused, consistent and calculated in your responses is the best way to act. This will be a valuable lesson that will help them succeed in life. Think of it this way, you will demonstrate the behavior that you want to see in them.

#3 Give Tasks to Your Kids

The biggest mistake that most parents make, especially new ones, is that they don’t ever give their kids any tasks. This is understandable, because you are simply trying to let them be free and have fun. Although, there is a downside to this. Your kids will not be ready for school or adult life if they are not taught how to deal with tasks and how to be responsible.

I am not saying that you should give them serious tasks, just small things that will make them feel useful and needed. If you remain consistent in your expectations, your kids will realize that that dealing with their tasks is important and that they should make it their top priority. Learning how to prioritize tasks is an essential skill to being successful in school.

#4 Weekly Family Meetings

One of the most popular parenting trends for 2020 is to prioritize family meetings. The meetings can take place once a week and the only rule is that the entire family needs to be there. It’s easy to get side tracked or stressed from work and go for weeks without spending precious time as a family. What’s great about weekly family meetings is that you can use them to have fun with your kids and also to talk about problems that your family needs to solve.

Are your kids fighting too often? Use the weekly family meeting to have a talk with them. Listen to their problems and help them understand what needs to be done. After you get done with the serious talk, you should whip out a board game and have some fun! This way, everyone will love it when the weekly family meeting comes around.

#5 Limit the Screen Time

We live in the age of technology and almost every kid has a tablet around the house that they can use to watch YouTube videos or listen to music. While using technology as entertainment for kids is not necessarily a bad thing, experts are saying too much screen time can have a significant impact on children brain development. Obviously, you don’t want this.

Learning to say no when your kids are crying because you are not allowing them to watch the TV or play games on their tablets might be tough and make you feel bad, but it’s for the greater good. Not just that, but kids these days often feel entitled to their parent’s smartphones. Saying “no” once in a while is only going to do them good.

Finding out what motivates your kids is not an easy task. Every parent is faced with this problem and convincing your kids to do things that they might not feel like doing is sometimes challenging. Learning how to motivate your kids is an important step towards becoming a great parent but more importantly, it will help them be successful in life. With the right motivation, the kids will be able to finish their homework in time and take care of their chores. If you are looking for the best motivational techniques, then you have arrived at the right place. Today I am going to show you what are the best ways to keep kids motivated.

#1 Giving Out Rewards is Not Good for the Long Term

This might come as a surprise, but giving out rewards is not always a good idea to motivate kids. This motivation method is considered a “temporary solution” by experts and the reason behind this is that what are you going to do when you run out of rewards?

“It is true that rewards will motivate people to do activities. But what happens is the behavior becomes dependent on the rewards and will stop when the rewards stop,” states Edward Deci is a Ph.D professor of psychology at the University of Rochester.

Think of it this way, would you be motivated to go to work if you didn’t get paid? This is why giving out rewards is not the way to do motivate your kids.

#2 Recognize Personal Achievements

One of the best ways to make your kids feel great for doing something that they were not necessarily feeling motivated about is to recognize their personal achievements. Most of the time, children desire to be viewed as competent and successful in all activities. This is why praising them for their hard work and making them feel good about themselves is always a better option than giving out rewards.

The tricky part about motivating your kids by recognizing their personal achievements is to be careful not to turn this into praise. If you find yourself giving praise to your kids for everything they do, they will soon stop feeling the sense accomplishment when dealing with bigger tasks. You should expect excellence because offering unearned praise will lead to losing overall motivation.

#3 Set Goals

Hands down, the fastest way to make someone feel motivated is to set short-term goals. This works for kids as well. Obviously, you don’t want your kids to be forced into one direction and the goals that you set for them should have a “loose grip”. What I mean by this is that you should set goals for them to work towards, but you should give them enough freedom to show their character strengths and what they like.

If you are not sure what goals you should set for your kids, then my advice would be to write down with pen on paper how you would like them to be when they grow up. Do you want them to be hard workers? Then, your goals should be focused on short-term goals that will teach them how good it feels to take care of chores in time.

#4 One-on-One Talks

Who else knows better what motivates your kids other than them? Kids can sometimes be difficult to “crack” because not all of them like talking openly about their feelings. This is where one-on-one talks come in. You should have meaningful conversations with your kids and learn what they like, what drives them and what makes them curios. Dr. Kennedy-Moore has a great way of explaining the importance of meaningful talks with kids.

The doctor picks a member from the audience and she tells him that she will give him $1,000 if he does a backflip. When the audience member declines to do the impossible task, Dr. Kennedy-Moore says: “Look how stubborn he is! I guess I need to be more firm with him”.

This why motivating your kids to do something that they excel at is more important than forcing them to focus on things that they don’t necessarily like or enjoy doing.

Final Words

If there is one thing that all parents will agree about, then it has to be the fact that no one is ever fully prepared for the job. Being a parent is the most difficult job in the world and learning how to do it right is a long process. As a conclusion, the best way to find out what motivates your kids is to talk to them and let them show you what drives them.