Parenting Skills - Where Can I Find Good Information?

By: Sherry Fields Click author's name for more of his/her articles

The basic equipment that we have or were born with is the way in which our very own parents brought us up. How often have you heard people say that "if only" they had a "parent's rulebook" they would have been the best parent in the world. But in truth there is no rule book.

Being a parent is a life long experience. Try to look at how your parents ended their issues; what was their solution and try to see if that may actually work for you. Also try to see things from your child's perspective; you'll then realize and understand how they're feeling and why they're rebelling. You were a kid once too, try to remember what it was like for you - how you felt when your parents reacted to you and your exploration of your world. Remember never give up.

PARENTING FOR LIFE
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Parents find children bring joy to their lives, watching them grow and accomplish so very much in so little time - learning to crawl and then walk - hearing their first words. Occasionally though they too can bring tragic sorrows. Parenting is a continuous process, taking a lifetime. Even after all of your children have grown up, they will still come to you for advice. By the time your child steps out on the world at 18, they are considered as an adult. And while they may put on a big front the world can be a scary place for a young adult trying to find their way. Make sure they know you are always there for them, give them your advice when asked but let them make the choices.

SELF-RELIANCE & RESPONSIBILITY
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By giving acceptance, abundant love and affection to your child, they tend to be kinder, charitable and best of all responsible as opposed to those whose parents acceded to their every whim and materialistic demand. However if you still believe that by giving your child everything that they want is supporting them, know that all children need structure and need to know the limits. Life is like that - you can not always have exactly what you want when you want it - helping your child understand, these life lessons, is important. For example, in the classroom - they need to respect their teacher and the other students - they need to learn how to share and take turns. All of the support you can give them as they grow will supply them with the tools they need once they are adults.

WORKING WITH YOUR CHILD NOT AGAINST THEM!
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As young as two years old, a child can start learning to do easy chores. It is hard to see a child struggling in meeting their personal goal, but, wonderful to be there beside them as you see them slowly achieving it.

Relate to them what you are seeing and say what you would like to see - "Oh! You really like saying "NO."

Always give your child two choices - Being the parent you are allowed to pick at least two choices that is both acceptable to the both of you when you offer it to your child. Brainstorming with your child as to what reward/s will be given after they have accomplished a number of set goals.

QUALITY FAMILY TIME
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You do not need major makeovers in starting to increase your quality time that you and your family spend together. Your goal is to produce long lasting good memories. You can begin by holding conversations over a family dinner. Write down some notes of positive and truly inspiring stories that you hear about, and then use those stories to start a dinner conversation as a topic. Since you want your family looking forward to spending more of these moments together ask everyone to contribute to ideas and topics that they want to discuss. Give equal time to be heard to everyone that wants to speak, and set the rules about cross-talk or responses to the discussion. Make sure that you show your children that you respect and appreciate their contributions. It may just surprise you - their view of the world!

Sherry Fields