6 Great Tips for Positive Parenting

Parenting takes a lot of patience and fortitude. Use the following positive parenting tips can help.

Play with your kids: The more you play with them, the easier it is to know what is going on with them. When you spend time with your kids, you’ll get to know when they need some attention and love and when they are just too tired to be rational. Time spent with your children helps establish bonds and rapport that gives you the respect and authority you need as a parent. It also gives you the strength to follow through when they are misbehaving.

Have routines: Routines make life better for you and your child. They help establish a sense of security and stability by allowing your child to know when and how to react to the activities that make up their days. They can also help give you, as a parent, a helping hand. When children go to bed at the same time every night and follow the same routine, they are less likely to fight you because they know what happens and when. You need not have a plan moment-by-moment throughout your day, but having a general idea of what happens and when will make the day flow more smoothly and will improve behavior, too.

Establish and enforce rules: Rules are an integral part of parenting, whether your child is six or sixteen. It’s important to establish a set of rules and consequences for breaking those rules. Consequences reinforce that you care enough to set and enforce rules. They give your child stability. They also make parenting easier for you and your spouse.

Take time for you: As counter intuitive as it may seem, being a good parent involves taking time for yourself away from your children. Parenting without adequate food, sleep and rest is not possible. In fact, doing so is detrimental to you, your children and your relationship with them. How likely are you to respond patiently to a mess or a crabby child if you are tired and starving? So, while you’re busy being a good parent, don’t forget to be good to yourself as well.

Talk with your child: Positive parenting starts with knowing your child, requires mutual respect and requires that you and your child can talk openly and honestly. To foster a long-term relationship with your child start communicating with them when they’re young and include them in conversations. Take the time to let them know that their opinions matter and that they’re being heard. This will help them learn who they are. It will also assist them as they learn and instill confidence in them as they grow older.

Give your child advantages: The kids that tend to turn out the best are the ones who have confidence and believe in themselves and their abilities. Help your child develop that confidence by giving them tools to succeed. Enroll them in preschools and introduce them to reading, basic math and science, along with any other subjects you like, at a young age. Encourage their curiosity and enable them to learn, grow and discover their talents.