Once upon a time, there was a period when no one could even imagine Nicole "Snooki" LaValle becoming a mom and raising her children because of her wild spirit we got to meet thanks to reality television. She was known as the girl who likes to party and to have fun, so it was interesting to take a look at her parenting skills and methods one she became a mother.

Of course, people change completely once they welcome their first child. Their whole life becomes something very different than what they were used to and Snooki was no exception to that rule. She is currently a mother of two and she is very proud of herself because of the changes she made to be the best possible mother to her children. According to her, the only thing she is really worried about is that her children will eventually get bullied by their peers because of their famous mom, and all she really wants for them is to have a normal childhood like all other kids out there. That being said, she has also developed a set of interesting rules she and her kids follow so let’s take a look at 15 of them.

Healthy Lifestyle Is Important

Snooki believes teaching your kids about healthy nutrition and exercise is very important from the very early age. She tries to lead by example and show her kids that making healthy choices leads to healthier and happier life full of positive energy. She believes her kids will really be into sports as they grow bigger because their father, Jionni LaValle, used to play a lot of sports and he really loved it as a child and as a young adult. Snooki also carefully picks the food to feed her kids because she wants them to develop healthy eating habits and not to grow up eating junk food. It seems like a very reasonable approach when you want your kids to get used to the healthy lifestyle from their earliest age.

Positive Discipline Only

When it comes to disciplining her children, Snooki is all about positive discipline. She would never spank her children because she grew up with parents who used to do that from time to time and she claims it was pretty terrifying so she doesn’t want her kids to go through that. Positive discipline is all about being respectful towards children and encourage them to become responsible and respectful towards other people themselves. The point is to teach them some valuable social skills by leading by example. So if you never yell at your children or get overly aggressive, there is a chance they themselves will not develop that kind of behavior later in life. Instead, they will deal with issues calmly and they will try to solve their problems primarily through communication.

Ignore The Tantrums

When you are a parent, you have to count on the possibility that tantrums are about to happen from time to time. However, the question is how to react in those moments? What is the right way to deal with your child’s tantrums? Snooki has a pretty unique way of dealing with that and she simply ignores them. She pretends like nothing is happening and she simply waits for her child to calm down. According to Snooki, the more attention you pay to your child’s tantrums, the worse they usually get so if you just stay calm and try to ignore them as much as possible, the child will realize that they won’t get what they want my making a scene and they will eventually give that behavior up completely.

Body-Positive Approach

Snooki started teaching their kids about how important it is to have the body-positive image and not to stress out about every single little flaw that somebody might maybe notice. The talk started with her son asking her about stretch marks on her belly, and she explained to him that that is what naturally happens to women who have given birth and that there is nothing wrong with that. However, it is a bit hard to imagine Snooki in this role since she herself underwent a breast augmentation procedure recently. On the other hand, despite that, it is pretty great that she tries to teach her kids to embrace their bodies as they are. She also encourages them to ask all of the questions they might possibly have about certain body parts etc.

Nursing Is The Way To Go

While Snooki is not a full-on attachment parent, she has adopted some elements of the attachment parenting that she finds beneficial for both her and her children. For example, she believes breastfeeding is really the best way to feed your children for as long as possible and she also really recommends using the Boppy pillow which is basically a cushion that the mother wraps around herself while she’s nursing her child to make things a little bit easier. And while some people believe it is not good for the child if the breastfeeding continues past a certain age, Snooki disagrees with that and believes that there is nothing wrong with nursing your kid for as long as you see fit. After all, you are their parent, it’s your right to decide how you’ll raise them.

Get As Much Sleep As You Can

Having a new baby at home can be really challenging sometimes, especially when it comes to issues like serious lack of sleep. The first few days with a new baby often feel like 24 hours of crying and running up and down to check on your kid and see what they want or need. According to Snooki, it is important to try to set some kind of sleeping schedule and then stick to it. Also, during the time your child is teething, you just have to be prepared that sleeping through the night is something that is just not going to happen. She used to make things easier during that period by giving all kinds of teething toys to her kids or feeding them cold applesauce for the gums. However, if you are a new parent, get as much sleep as you can whenever you can!

Use Pregnancy Apps For Advice

Snooki took parenting pretty seriously and she really wanted to be well-prepared for her first child coming into the world. So what do you do when you have no idea what your life is going to be like once you become a parent? There are thousands of places where you can get all the information you need, and Snooki went through all of them. She asked her friends for advice, she read all kinds of parenting books, but ultimately, she realized that what was most helpful to her were parenting apps. She found those apps to be really relatable and she still uses them from time to time when she has some questions. According to Snooki, when your kid is giving you a hard time, you should try her 3 favorite apps: My Pregnancy Today, BabyCenter's My Baby Today, and What To Expect Pregnancy.

Family Activities Outdoors

Snooki believes that one of the best ways to bond with your child is to have family activities outdoors that are both fun and good for your kids. She and her husband often take their children outside for long walks, hikes, or simply for a breath of fresh air. When it comes to kicking the ball around and having fun outdoors, Snooki admits that her son prefers to do that with his dad so they often have their boys’ time, but when it comes to kissing and cuddling, the kids always run to their mom. All in all, Snooki believes that it is important to engage in all kinds of family activities that they all can enjoy together and she feels that it truly brings them closer and it makes the kids happier.

Read Books To Your Kids

While Snooki doesn’t have some strict, non-TV regime that the kids have to follow, she is teaching them that books are just as interesting as their favorite cartoons, if not even more. She often reads to her kids all kinds of bedtime stories and she finds that to be a great way to both develop their reading habits, as well as to bond with them as they are lying in the bed together and the kids enjoy their favorite stories before they fall asleep. Their favorite book is Simple First Words: Let's Talk by Roger Priddy, and it was both very interesting to them because of all the sounds the book makes when you press certain buttons, and it was also quite educational and useful when they were learning how to speak.

Trust Your Instincts

While Snooki has read all kinds of parenting advice online and in the books, she still believes that the key to raising your child right is simply to trust your instincts and see how the things play out. Nobody knows your kid better than you do so she advises other parents too not to trust blindly in the things other people say or the things that are written in the books about parenting. While it is great to have all of that information if you need it, she still believes that people shouldn’t take them as rules, but more as guidance to help things flow in the right direction. Snooki admits that parenting sounded pretty terrifying to her before she actually became a mother, but once her natural instincts kicked in, she realized that there was nothing to be afraid of; she simply had to roll with it naturally.

Co-Sleeping With The Kids

Snooki has read a number of books and posts about attachment parenting and she decided she wasn’t going to stick to all of the rules completely, but she has been following those that make sense to her. Her kids sleep with her in her bed because she finds it way easier than running back and forth in the middle of the night when they wake up and it is also a great way to get them to sleep faster and easier. It also makes breastfeeding during the night way easier although Snooki admits that there is a downside to that – her kids sometimes pee on her during the night and she often doesn’t have the energy to take care of that right away so she waits until the morning to change the sheets and get a shower.

Don’t Let Other People Judge You

Since Snooki became a mom, a lot of people have been criticizing her parenting style, but she believes that the most important thing for every parent is just to do their own thing and not let other people’s opinions affect you in a negative way. She also believes that is something every parent should teach their kids: don’t care too much about what people have to say about you. She teaches their kids self-respect and she wants them to become confident and independent human beings. She believes that the only way to really do that is by not taking criticism too hard and sometimes just letting things slide. She admits that she wasn’t always the person who would let things just slide, but life has thought her how important that actually is for living a happy life.

Teach Your Kids How To Share

Snooki realized how important it was to teach your kids how to share when her second child was born. Before that, her son was pretty used to being an only child so at times, it was difficult to explain to him that he wasn’t the only kid in the house anymore and that he needs to learn how to share not only his toys and stuff but the parents’ time devoted to the kids as well. When you are used to having all your parents’ attention for yourself, it can get pretty confusing once there is someone else who “steals” their attention from you. However, Snooki and her husband tried to explain this to him and they are happy to say that their son has realized the importance of sharing and he loves his little sister very much.

Don’t Rush Through Things

When asked what her favorite stage of parenthood was, she explained that she enjoys each stage equally and that it is important not to rush through things. You need to let your kids do their own thing at their own pace without putting too much pressure on them. That is how they learn the fastest and they aren’t under the constant stress of meeting their parents’ expectations. So while it would be great to get rid of the diapers, for example, as soon as possible, the only thing you can really do about that is to be patient and encourage your kid through the process of potty-training. The same goes for everything; kids are fast learners and if sometimes they don’t get where you want them to as fast as you expected them, just be patient and they will eventually get there.

Just Keep Your Kid Safe And Healthy

Snooki believes that people tend to pay too much attention to the insignificant things so they often forget about the truly important ones. According to both her and her husband, people have grown overly judgmental when it comes to parenting and especially to motherhood. They judge whether you breastfeed your kid or not, which brand of diapers you use, do you feed your children organic or not, do you let the children sleep in your bed etc. Snooki believes that people should just chill out a bit and simply focus on keeping their children safe and healthy and making them feel truly and deeply loved in all possible situations. She believes that is what truly makes the difference between a good parent and a not so good one; not all of those details people tend to stress about all the time.