Becoming good parents to your children is not easy. Most of the time we use methods that we learn from our own parents when we were young. We also apply knowledge that we pick up along the way or have read somewhere. Nobody said it was easy and most often than not, we learn through the whole parenting experience of what method works and does not work.
Ultimately though, parents have similar goals in what they expect from their children through their parenting skills. Parents hope for among other things, to have children who know responsibility, respect and compassion. Parents want their children to grow up to have good self-esteem about themselves, to be self-reliant, to be a good and helpful person, etc.
My own helpful tips for parents are:
1. Teach them to fish
2. Be a good role model
3. Respect your children
Teach them to fish
Teach your children about the idea of doing things by themselves to achieve or complete a task. Parents tend to complete a task or bow in to their children’s demands. If the parents do everything for their children, the children will come to expect this in every situation. Once your child has reached pre-school age (3 – 4 years old), they are old enough to understand instructions or requests. You can request them to do simple chores or tasks like putting back or arranging their toys, books, shoes, clothing, etc.
These will teach your children about responsibilities and being proud of themselves for being able to do something that the adults normally do. It will be easier for them as they grow up to accept more and more of life’s responsibilities.
Be a good role model
The person closest to the children is the parents. So be a good role model for them. Act the person that you would want them to be when they grow up. You may face some slip-ups from time to time but most of the time, play a good role and show a good example. From personal experience, it is a hard thing to do sometimes. We sometimes get home from work bringing all our problems and are certainly not in a good mind-frame to handle or listen to the children’s problem. Just remember that we are the parents and the children naturally turn to us to help them, to advice them or just to listen to them.
Respect your children
Children are very smart and catch-on very fast. They learn and pick-up a lot of things during their growing years. Starting at a young age, they start to show their individual, unique personality.
As parents we should give them room to grow, to make mistakes and not to expect perfection from them. Your expectations must be reasonable and agreeable to them. To expect more than they could give will put on unnecessary pressure on them and it will make them miserable and become rebellious.
Simply put, be flexible and constantly get their feedbacks. Become their friends or best buddies and they will always hold you in good regards.
The above are my tips to assist you in your parenting journey. You may have your own methods or tips to guide you in becoming successful parents but there is no harm to give mine a try.
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my 15-month old son doesn’t seem to know my instruction.
Do you have any suggestion on how to stop him from being so demanding?
Your son is only 15 months old. Wait until he reaches the ‘Terrible two’ stage (2 years old) where the word ‘demanding’ takes on a new meaning. I suppose there is no sure method to deal with demanding children and at a young age, they have not grasp the idea of ‘being instructed’ yet. If they like your instruction, they will follow and if they don’t, they tend to ignore it.
When they are slightly older, they respond better to instructions. So for now, try distracting him when he becomes too demanding. You can also try to compromise, give and take. Sometimes these methods work with my kids.
Yeah.. I think distracting and diverting his attention is the most effective way at this moment. Thanks!