No one said that being a parent was going to be easy. There is no full proof manual that comes along when the baby is born. I myself am still learning as I travel along this journey as a parent of three young boys.
Here is a summary of tips that I gathered from reading many different parenting books.
As a parent you should not :
[1]Give into guilt by taking upon the mistakes of the children as your own. It is okay if children make mistakes. It is only bad if they do not learn from it. It is not possible for your child not to make mistakes or be infallible as you personally are not.
[2]Striving for Perfectionism. Stop!! Don't do that you are not bringing up robots. If all your kids problems/battles are being solved by you catering to their every need they will not be able to adapt to the real world and the how to be independent and face their own battles. They will not know/learn the techniques/skills needed for survival. By aiming for perfectionism you are only placing additional unwanted stress on your child and they may resent you for it.
[3]Being Overindulgent. Do not be afraid to deprive your kids. Sometimes they have too much of a good thing to learn how to appreciate it properly. If they have everything they desired they will not know the value of ownership and how to cherish and take care of their own belongings.
[4]Failing to admit that they as parents foul up sometimes. Do admit your mistakes to you child if you commit any. It will only help to strengthen your relationship . Your child will give you plenty of changes to apologize, ask for forgiveness and try to do better.
Problems and errors are inevitable; how we handle them is up to us. We can be critical of ourselves or our children, or we can see our mistakes as opportunities to learn and grow.
[5]Shutting off the child. Irregardless of what tactic you try in an attempt to guide your child, make sure that you also keep the lines of communication open, be as perceptive as you can, and then trust your intuition about what's best for your son or daughter. You may be driving your child into a corner and into desperation if you do so and they may take drastic actions which you may regret bitterly afterward.
[6]Punishment will change all bad behavior. This is not true. It is only a temporary stop gap measure which does not eliminate the particular unwanted behavior. It may even reinforce other undesirable behaviors in your child. Your yelling or hitting your child as punishment will only result in him acting out the same behavior on others or even you in the future? Do you wish your child to behave so aggressively towards you like you were towards him?
[7]Constantly nag at your child. It will only cause them to turn a deaf ear and make you more frustrated with them. 50 time - " I told you to put your clothes into the laundry hamper" does not equate to the child doing what you wish him to do. I'm sure you hated when your spouse or parent nagged at you to do things which you didn't find the need or didn't want to.
[8]Believe that by explaining to your child why a behavior is wrong he would automatically stop it and not commit the same mistake again. Explanation without modeling the correct behavior is useless. It will be the same as sitting through a boring science lecture which you have no interest in. You will still commit the same mistake as you haven't learn the theory and done the practice associated with it.
[9]Having the belief that praising a child too much is bad for him. This is a very ancient way (dictatorship) of parenting. If your praise is misguided or poorly delivered yes, it may not be effective. Be specific in how your praise your child. Praise him for a particular action IE: Playing nicely for 20 minutes with his brother instead of saying " You are being a good boy today ".
[10]Thinking that all children can fit into the same mold. Each child develops and matures at a different rate. Every one of them have their own strengths and weaknesses. It would be unfair to them to compare their development with their siblings and peers. Instead a better way would be to work on developing their strengths and help them how to overcome their weaknesses.
Are you guilty as a parent of committing any of these mistakes?
