Parenting is tough business…

Parenting is one of the most challenging jobs there is. Every day, you are forced to make decisions that will alter the future of your child’s development and life. To that end, it is vital to know all that you can when it comes to making sound decisions that will be beneficial to you, your child, and your family structure. In this article, we will address some tips that will help you to become a better parent.

The attitude of parents to the child
The parent’s attitude towards their child is essential for its development. Parents who have a child late in life often have an easier time fully accepting their new role than young parents. Accepting their role as parents helps them in their tasks.

Freeing yourself from unrealistic ideas
Often, the media presents a romantic image of the parent-child relationship that has little to do with reality. Those who take “TV parents” as their role model or have unrealistic expectations of their child that they must behave like a “movie child” will experience disappointment and resentment. But who should you look to for guidance? Some parents follow their parents’ parenting and handling methods, and others seek advice in books or by sharing with others. However, all parents and children have differen personalities, and the various models are always transferable only to a limited extent.

What are the principles?
So how as a parent can you support your child’s development – aren’t there some principles after all?

self-confidence promotion
Self-confidence is a huge part of a child’s optimal development because a child who accepts himself also has confidence in others. Such a positive self-image is dependent on the parents, so you can hardly do anything more important than setting realistic goals for your child so that unnecessary failures are avoided, and the child’s self-image remains undamaged. However, parents must also point out their child’s weaknesses and strengths, focusing on the strengths. Parents should make sure that the environment does not limit their ability to learn because, with limited opportunities, the child will not fully develop their potential.

Knowing when the time is right
Natural abilities need to be stimulated to develop when the child is ready. Knowing when the time is right is crucial: no matter how hard a child tries, it will not learn something until it has matured sufficiently in its development. But once it does, the new skill will unfold with fantastic speed, especially if parents continue to stimulate its interest and effort.

Learning to get along with others
Another task for parents is to teach their children how to behave toward others. Children are egoists and, at times, very self-centered. Show him what rules are valid between people. This way, you ensure that your child will quickly make friends and escape being alone. Your child may never learn to defeat loneliness if the antisocial behavior goes unchallenged.

Encourage happiness
Happy children are usually healthy and full of energy because contentment is allowing children to be better equipped to calmly and efficiently find a way out of them. In addition, contentment facilitates and encourages social activities and contacts – people usually react positively to cheerfulness because being happy gives the child a friendly expression – a good starting point for personal relationships. Unhappiness, on the other hand, saps the child’s drive and energy and reduces their physical well-being, that makes it harder for the child to use their energy wisely and purposefully. Satisfaction can become a habit, and you can make it your business to see that your child adopts habits like this.

Likewise, unhappiness can become a habit, and it is up to you to prevent it. Of course, a happy childhood is no guarantee of a successful later life, but you are laying a foundation for it, while dissatisfaction only lays the foundation for failure.

What does a child expect from his parents?
Your child is probably not yet in a position to express concrete ideas about what criteria good parents should fulfill. Here you will find some ideas that make up “good parents” for children:

• do a lot for their child
• are parents you can rely on
• are lenient within reasonable limits
• are fair in discipline
• respect their child’s personality
• inspire love and not fear
• are a good role model
• are a good friend to their child and do things together with him/her
• are usually in a good mood
• show your child that you love him/her
• are compassionate when their child is hurt or in trouble
• invite their child to bring friends to their home
• are concerned about a happy home
• allow their child age-appropriate independence
• do not expect unrealistic achievements

A lot of the time, it may seem to your child like you are nagging them. This is because children are often told what to do, and parents try to direct a child’s actions to make the decisions that are the best for them. However, children can quickly grow numb to follow orders merely, so it is crucial to consider that you should try to show your child what they should do by taking action instead of simply telling them something. For instance, if your child is messy and doesn’t put their dirty clothes into the hamper, you may want to consider only washing the clothes in the hamper instead of constantly telling them to put their dirty clothes in the hamper.

Related: How to know for sure if your are breastfeeding your baby properly

One thing that you may want to consider when disciplining your child is to use natural consequences. That means that the consequences that you provide for something that your child does should be similar to the kinds of problems they would expect if they continued engaging in the activity. For instance, if your child tends to lose their keys constantly, you may want to consider allowing them to fix the problem on their own so that they won’t have to rely on you, and they will make sure that they keep their keys on them as often as they can in the future.

Whenever your child does something that you don’t like, you should address what they did instead of the child themselves. Don’t cast blame; avoid making statements like ‘I hate it when you don’t make your bed’, you should say something like ‘It is imperative to me that the beds in the house are made every morning.’ This way of addressing problems doesn’t attack the child’s self-esteem, but it firmly establishes in their mind exactly what types of behavior you expect of them.

Related: How important is breastfeeding in eliminating the childhood obesity epidemic?

Most parents doubt being good at their job as a mom or dad. However, in some situations, it turns out that sometimes not being a good parent is a good thing.

1. your child has different interests than you
Your offspring is fascinated with something that doesn’t interest you? This shows that your child can always count on your support, even if that thing doesn’t necessarily appeal to you. In the end, you are helping your child develop their personality to the best of their ability.

2. you let your child fail
As a mom, it’s hard to watch your child fail, primarily when the disappointment is written all over their face afterward. But sometimes you have to let your child do it, because as the saying goes? You learn from your mistakes.

3. your child goes out in clothing you don’t think is appropriate
You’re not a bad mom if you let your kid go to kindergarten or school in pajamas or an impossible outfit. You realize that a happy child is worth more than a child in perfect clothes.

4. you make mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes, and just like you have to watch your kids fail, your kids should be able to see you fail. You shouldn’t give your kids the image that you can avoid making any mistakes because the bottom line is that no one is perfect, undoubtedly not competent parents.

5. your child says he hates you
Everyone goes through the moment when their child will say the words “I hate you” to you. It hurts. Usually, though, it’s just a sign that you’ve done your job as a mom well. After all, you’re not the little one’s best friend but a parental figure.

An important thing to consider when it comes to parenting matters is that the things you do to your child now will likely stay with them for life. With that in mind, you should behave in ways that you would hope to behave in when they grow up. For instance, if you spank your child when something upsets you, they may be more prone to using violence to solve their problems later in life. To that end, you should parent with the result in mind instead of the immediate consequences of the actions you take.