Parenting is always evolving, and as the child begins to grow up, the job changes. Becoming a better parent should always be something that is yearned for, as the skills constantly need to be honed. Parents are the biggest influence in the life of their child, so becoming the best parent possible is of paramount importance. To become a better parent, the following tips on parenting and useful steps may prove to be beneficial for you.
First and foremost, everything a parent does needs to be done with unconditional love. This is non-negotiable. Love is the root of parenting, the building block that will eventually house all of the other magnificent character traits encompassed by great parents.
18 Tips on Parenting To Be A Better Parent
Parents strive to be the best for their children. It is only natural to want to be the best, and provide the absolute best of everything for your child. Parenting is a difficult learning curve that is filled with a roller-coaster of emotions. Wanting the best for your children shows unconditional love and care. The bond between parent and child is incredible, and the feeling of love a parent has for their child is immense. Sometimes a parent can be a little unsure if they are being the best parent for their children, and want to learn ways to be the best parent.
How can you be the best parent for your children? There are many ways to become a better parent, so let’s check them out below!
1. Calmness & Patience
The first tip to become a better parent is that you need to work on your calmness and patience. Parenting can be a very demanding job, and it is often done while enduring through years of poor or little sleep. Remaining calm and patient will help you to be a better parent because you will be able to react to situations in a much more relaxed manner, which can help to diffuse tense situations. This is especially essential in regards to discipline.
2. Discipline
Another tip on parenting for becoming a better parent is to learn how to discipline your children. Children need discipline and rules to follow. The sooner they learn this, the better off they will become as they enter school and the world of work, where there are boundaries in place that must be adhered. Children need to know that they are loved enough to be disciplined.
3. Bare Necessities
The bare necessities are crucial to parenting. To become a better parent, adopt the tip of stressing the importance of the simpler things in life. Parents need to provide food, shelter, and clothing to their children. While these things are seemingly common sense, there is a tip to be followed with each.
Food needs to be nutritious. Children need to learn about nutrition and the Canadian Food Guide and why it is essential to their health and well-being to eat a proper and nutritious meal at every sitting. The food habits passed on by parents are modelled by children. If a parent wants their children to eat properly to remain in good health, then they have to set the example. Children need to have breakfast every day, as this will help them with their academic abilities throughout the day.
Meal time should be a time when the entire family sits together and discusses the day, while eating a healthy and well-balanced meal. The proper fuel helps propel the body properly, keeping your children alert and active.
Shelter should be a comfortable and safe place to receive a good night’s sleep. Sleep is crucial to the alertness and mental ability of a child. Children need to be well rested before school, so that they have the energy requisite of paying attention all day to their teachers.
Clothing is another obvious thing, but children need to learn the value of a dollar. Clothes do not have to brand name or brand new. To be a better parent, you need to allow your children to know the difference between wanting something and earning something. Money can be well spent on many things for the family; it does not have to be squandered on the latest trends. This lesson can also help your children to learn to have confidence in themselves, raising their self-esteem.
4. Role Model
Becoming a better parent requires that you are an excellent role model for your children. At all times, a good parent is kind, courteous, respectful, polite to others, and treats their spouse with tenderness. Children need to see examples of how to behave before they can adopt them.
5. Integrity
A parent needs to have integrity if they want to be a better parent. A good parent has plenty of integrity, and always says what they mean and follows through with actions threatened. A good parent knows the importance of sticking to their guns, or else the children will get a mixed message and may behave inappropriately as a direct consequence.
6. Consistency
A great tip for becoming a better parent is to have consistency. This is especially prevalent when there are multiple children. Kids are always able to notice when something is not fair. Good parents know to keep things fair, most notably in terms of discipline, praise, and rewards. Children should always know how their parents are going to react, keeping surprises to a minimum.
7. Pride
Becoming a better parent means not worrying about giving your children all the things you did not have, rather giving them all the things that you did have. Teach your children to be proud of who they are and where they come from. Children need to learn about their ancestry. A better parent instills in their children a good sense of self and the confidence to walk tall.
8. Values
Children need to learn values, morals, and ethics. The world may be full of drudgery and atrocities, but they need to know that they are responsible for their own actions. Becoming a better parent involves teaching your children to stand up for what is right and something that they believe in, sticking to their principles no matter the consequence.
9. Education
Parents that want to become better need to work in tandem with their children’s teachers to educate their children. They need to stress the importance of a good education, and must be willing to help at home so that the homework and studying gets done every night. Parents need to read to their children every day, cultivating a lifelong love of reading and learning. Reading to your young children can expand their horizons, transcend boundaries, and allow their imagination and creativity to soar to unfathomable heights.
10. Support
Becoming a better parent requires that you offer forth intensive support for your children. This tip is necessary because children need to have a place to go when they need emotional, verbal, physical, and spiritual support. A good parent knows that they should provide this support; for a realistic fear, their children may seek guidance elsewhere, which may be wrong in myriad facets.
11. Communication
The lines of communication need to be honest and open at all times with your child. This tip to becoming a better parent is always going to be changing, as the needs of the child will continually changes as they age and mature. Parents must always be ready to give thoughtful insight to their children, and to offer advice that is practical, logical, and based on sound reasoning.
12. Independence
A good parent knows that eventually they have to ease up on the reins and loosen the apron strings. Children need to grow up. Parents cannot protect them from everything that the world throws at them, try as they might. In this regard, becoming a better parent involves knowing when to let go, when to hold on, and when to slacken the line just a smidgen.
13. Compassion
Children need to learn compassion, and becoming a better parent encompasses teaching your children, through example, how to be compassionate toward all people. Teaching your children about mutual respect and cultural diversity will serve them well as they grow up. There are a plethora of people in this world that are disadvantaged, and they need sympathy and support. A parent that wants to become better may give their child the gift of taking them to do volunteer work with the elderly, or serving meals at a homeless shelter.
14. The importance of balance
Naturally you want to be the best for your children, however, it is important that you provide good balance. There are times, where tough love is required, and this is essential for raising well-rounded children. They need to experience mistakes, and learn from these, as that is an important part of life. You may always want everything perfect for your child, which can at times make it difficult to enforce discipline, or see your child make mistakes. However, balance is always important for a child to become successful and independent, to learn how to survive in the open world when the time comes.
15. Provide love and care
All that is required to be the best parent to your children is unconditional love. Children need to feel loved and cared for to feel secure and happy. Giving your children love and affection provides them with confidence and raises their self-esteem, and most importantly it gives them a sense of belonging. Physical affection is important for many reasons, especially as it shows love and makes a children feel special. Other forms of love can be through encouraging and positive words, as it is equally important to build on a child’s self-esteem through boosting their confidence. Being part of a loving family that radiates with positivity is a great way to be the best for your children.
16. Time and attention
To be the best parent, it is essential to give quality uninterrupted time to your children. The time should be for bonding and creating happy memories. The activity should appeal to your child, and be of great interest to him or her. Other times it can be time shared helping each other when necessary. Time between parent and child is essential to promote self-worth and a feeling of importance. The activity doesn’t need to be extravagant, as it is about spending time together. There are many opportunities through a day where parent and child can come together to spend time together. Both the parent and the child will benefit from sharing quality time together, as it strengthens the bond and connection.
17. Work together
It is essential that both parents work together in an amicable way to be the best for their children. Parenting skills need to be practiced and agreed from both sides to provide unity. Parents need to show respect to each other and provide a happy environment for their children. Disagreements should be handled appropriately and preferably away from the children. Having parents that work together provides the children with the very best. Both parents providing the same love and support is essential for the well-being of the children.
18. Praise and acknowledgement
Children need support and encouragement from parents. They’re still growing and developing, and during this time it is essential that their efforts are praised and acknowledged to build on their confidence. Children strive to impress their parents. The more they are rewarded with praise for their achievements, the more they are likely to put in all their effort to do their best. A parent’s support is crucial to their child’s happiness and confidence, as it helps to build on their esteem and self-belief.
Parents are dedicated to being the best to provide a good life for their children. Love, understanding, time and patience are required to be the best for your children. All they need is a caring environment, with parents that treat them with respect and unconditional love. Children thrive and become wonderful independent, self-sufficient, confident well-rounded individuals from the nurture and care that they receive from their parents.
11 Steps To Be A Better Parent
Parenting is a wonderful thing, but it also is a huge responsibility. At times, you may feel you are losing control and that your life is becoming unmanageable. You may feel somewhat powerless over your children’s behaviour or the chaos that results. While there are no guiding principles to parenting, good common-sense, though, can go a long way.
Are you asking yourself: what can I do to be a better parent? These 11 steps will help improve your parenting skills. Prior to step 1, though, is admitting you need a little help. Once you are open to some guidance, you are on the path to parenting recovery, which will allow you one-day-at-a-time to be a more effective parent.
Step 1: Admit that you are powerless over some of the behaviours of your children
While you can offer guidance and can discipline your kids, the reality is that you are not in complete control over what your kids will do. The sooner you accept that, the better you can cope.
Step 2: Choose a parenting style that is conducted in love
Be sure to act in love toward your children, even when loving them requires punishing them to teach them consequences for their behaviours.
Step 3: Remember that you are the parent
Too many parents strive to be their children’s friends. Two words for that are: big mistake.
Step 4: Remember to keep things in perspective
While kids are wonderful and bring great joy, they can also be frustrating as any parent can attest. When your kids make mistakes or knock off the vase or spill milk all over the carpet, try to keep perspective.
Step 5: Exercise
Stay in shape physically, and you will be more on top of your parenting game. And, of course, working out is a great stress reliever.
Step 6: Do not be afraid to enforce the rules
Refer to Step 3. As the parent, part of your responsibility is to set rules and to enforce them. Unruly children will have problems later in life because they will develop the idea that rules do not apply to them.
Step 7: Eat well
Remember to eat well, as nutritious choices can help improve your moods.
Step 8: When in doubt, seek counsel from other parents
Parenting is a great adventure. Do not be embarrassed if there is something you do not know. Talk to a trusted friend when you need parenting support.
Step 9: Make time for grown-up things
While your children will be a huge part of your life, try to make time for some adult time.
Step 10: Before bed, review your day
It’s smart to quickly assess your day in the evening. Think about what you perhaps would have done differently, and be grateful for the things that went well.
Step 11: Enjoy yourself
Your children will one day leave the nest. Try to enjoy them while you have time with them. While each day may not be ideal, try to appreciate some of the special moments.
Hopefully, these 11 steps will provide some food for thought for a few parents out there. Parenting is a journey, at times a challenging one, but it is certainly rewarding as well.
Parenting is an immensely rewarding job to hold, but the rules are constantly changing and you have to do the best that you possibly can. Tips on parenting and steps for becoming a better parent are plentiful, but to be successful you have to take them to heart and adopt them fully. Your children deserve the best possible parent. It might as well be you!
