What is effective parenting? Why better upbringing is important for children to live a more fulfilling and happy life?
Raising children is no doubt the toughest job. It is tough because you can only learn parenting as you go into parenting. This is something that you can’t learn unless you become a parent.
Effective parenting doesn’t mean that you have to be a perfect parent. Rather, the best parents always try to raise their children in the best possible way.
Searching for a way to improve as a parent is the first step to becoming the best parent. If you want to know more about parenting, then know that you have already taken that first step that will help you in becoming a good parent.
Parenting is a huge responsibility and it directly impacts your children, whether good or bad. By becoming a good parent, you can make a positive impact on your child’s life.
Today we are going to share with you the to-do list that you can do right now to be a good parent to your children.
Effective Parenting Tips
Table of Contents
1) Manage your stress
What does your stress or happiness have to do with effective parenting?
Know one thing very well parents who can’t be happy and stress-free, can’t provide a happy life and stress-free environment to their children. A happy generation can only be generated by happy parents.
No matter what stage of life your children are in, they learn and observe everything from their parents. Happy parents make a positive impact on their children. If you want your children to live their lives with a positive mindset, then they must get the first lesson from their parents.
Happy parents communicate better and demonstrate affection and love in a better way creating a supportive environment that nurtures a child’s growth.
2) Highlight the child’s positive behavior
Effective parents understand that acknowledging their children’s positive behavior is more important.
As Alan Kazdin, a psychology professor from Yale University explains “Simply put, giving attention to undesired behaviors increases undesired behaviors, while giving attention to good behaviors increases good behaviors.”
The more you scold or punish your children for their mistakes, the more they will keep repeating those mistakes. Praising their good behavior gives them a kind of motivation.
Repeatedly scolding children for mistakes makes them believe that they are bad, they don’t listen to anyone and are always scolded. As such, they don’t feel motivated to correct themselves because they start thinking that it’s part of their identity now.
3) Manage your anger with patience
Sometimes children do a lot of mischief due to which parents start shouting at them, but doing so is very bad. The more you yell at your children, the worse they will become.
You must have a good relationship with your child for them to listen to you. When you as a parent maintain a good relationship with your child, it reflects in your child’s actions.
When children trust you, they will obey you, but only when your behavior is good with them. You have to raise your children with a balance, neither get too angry nor show too much love which will spoil them.
Sometimes children can be stubborn. Try to understand their feelings instead of trying to control their behavior. Find ways to better manage your anger. Always remember that your relationship with your child is more important than being right.
4) Avoid being harsh
Under any circumstances, parents should never hit a child. Slapping or hitting to discipline your children will only make them aggressive and this aggression will reflect in their behavior with others.
You should respect your children to get respectful treatment from them. Treating them in a kind and polite way makes them feel respected. And don’t you want your children to become a good person and behave well with others?
Children treat others the same way their parents treat them. It’s not your child’s fault if he misbehaves with someone, it’s your fault.
Children learn by watching their parents how to behave in certain situations. Therefore, you should find better methods to discipline your children.
5) Spend time with kids
Being involved with your children requires rearranging your priorities and it’s a tough task to do, but spending quality time with your kids creates a bond of love and understanding.
Regular engagement with your kids is the greatest resource available to improve their quality of life. Spending quality time is the best way to show your love to your kids.
It’s not easy to manage work and life responsibilities, but if you don’t make time for your children, how will you know their feelings and interests? That’s why you should spend some time with them daily, be it any activity whether it’s playing with them, or taking them out for a walk.
When you spend time with them, a special bond will be formed between you and your children that will help both understand each other.
6) Show love and affection
Children are as delicate as flowers. Just as flowers need to be looked after with great delicacy, similarly children too need to be cared for with love and affection.
When you don’t take care of the flowers properly, the flowers wither, the same way when children don’t get love at home they become weak emotionally and physically which eventually affects their self-confidence and their natural ability to cope with what life throws at them.
Showing your love for your children, telling them how important they are to you, how they make you feel, and how blessed you’re to have them will make them feel cherished. A cuddle or a kiss often to show that you care.
If the children want anything the most from their parents, that’s just love, but they can’t express this openly. It is the responsibility of the parents to realize that and never stop loving their children.
7) Stay commanding but supportive too
As parents, you have every right to exercise authority over your children, but just because you are their parent does not mean you expect them to do what you want them to do. Yes, parents will always be commanding, but good parents will be supportive too.
Parents should understand the difference between commanding parents and strict parents. Sometimes parents cross this line without even realizing the negative effects of this behavior.
Some parents believe that to make their children follow the rules, they have to be strict, and to do so, they become harsh with their children, which weakens rather than improves their relationship bond with their kids. Rather than harshly enforcing rules, you should provide a guideline to follow.
Supportive parents never focus on just punishing kids for their mistakes. Instead, they focus on helping their kids in every way possible to reinforce desirable behavior.
8) Never compare siblings
As a good parent, you’ve to make sure that your kids know that you love and care for your children equally. It’s not good for parents to give an impression to their kids that you favor one over the other.
Everyone is different and has unique characteristics, features, and abilities. Any discrimination whether it’s based on their looks, their ability to perform certain tasks, their habits, and their behavior can create a rivalry among your kids that can have adverse effects on your kids’ mental and physical health.
I’ve seen so many parents often making this mistake without realizing how badly it can affect their kids. If you’re someone who also does this unknowingly then stop doing this immediately today.
9) Never give up on your children
Good parents should never give up on their children. All of your child’s problems can be worked through with perseverance and goodwill.
Remember you’re the only support your kids have, you should stand by them even if they’re troublesome. Your unconditional support will help them bounce back.
Set clear limits for their bad behavior, but let them know that you’re there when they need your support to correct themselves.
When they do something wrong or make a mistake, your support and guidance will remind them that you have trust in them and will always love them.
10) Teach healthy habits
As a responsible parent, you should always strive to do your best to teach your kids the importance of healthy living from an early age. Well, this is only possible when you stick to a healthy lifestyle and make your kids follow them.
Teaching your kids to learn and adopt healthy habits from an early age will give them a strong foundation of mental and physical benefits that will set them up for the rest of their life.
Learning daily habits like bathing, brushing, using the washroom, eating, sleeping, wearing clothes, and practicing hygiene will help them follow a healthy lifestyle right from their childhood.
11) Be a good role model
There are no perfect parents, but you can be a good parent. Kids learn by watching their parents. Good parents influence their kids positively.
Remember, family is the first training ground for children to learn how to be the person their parents want them to be. So parents must always think about ways to be a positive role model for their children.
Your actions should match your words, the way you live your life will reflect what is important to you and this will provide lessons for your children.
Conclusion
Parenting is all about loving and taking good care of your kids. Being a parent is a big responsibility there is no debate on that topic. A life depends on you, you are the root of your child’s development.
What parents do for their children whether good or bad will always have an impression on their life. Every parent-child relationship depends on the parents. The importance of parents in their child’s life can’t be described, thereby parents should always strive to be the wise parent in their child’s upbringing.