Do’s and Don’ts for Good Parenting

Parents really work hard towards being perfect for their children. One cannot do everything a child needs, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be working on how to be the perfect parent. You should work towards understanding the growing needs of your child. And there is no one standard rule set for all the children. Each child is different, and therefore each one’s need is different. The kind of attention, love, and toughness to be shown as a parent varies from child to child. You must work towards understanding what level of attention, care and toughness is required for your child.

For those who want to develop good parenting skills, here are some of the Do’s and Don’ts for you to follow:

Parenting Do’s

• Unconditional Love. This isn’t really a piece of advice that anyone could give a parent, as I believe parents love their children more than anything. Just remember the love that you shower on your child for who they really are, what they do, and how they act is something that contributes to their self-esteem. Even at times when it is not easy to handle them, be calm and patient. Those are the moments you show your love at the best. Assure them that you are always there for them. Support them and caress them whenever you get an opportunity.
• Play with your child. Always make some time for your child. Get engaged in fun activities together with your child to establish a strong bond. It is not going to be easy. Slogging in the office, reaching home tired and spending time with the family; it is quite challenging. There might be countless other reasons too, for you to skip those fun activities with the kid. It’s ok even if it is 10 minutes, a little time with family helps you relax and makes your child happy. If you have a toddler, laugh, sing, crawl and do all those things your toddler does. By doing this, you not only enjoy your child’s company and strengthen your bonding, but also you will be re-living your life.
• Provide a healthy diet. As a parent make sure you only provide nutritious food to your child. Develop healthy eating habits. Ask them to avoid eating canned foods that are not good for their health. Sit at the dining table together with your children and discuss what health benefits the food served for that day has. Food habits developed at this age often stay until later age.
• Encourage physical activities. Turn off the television. Those who are addicted to television are less active than other children, more subjective to eye problems at an early age, more likely to avoid social contacts, and fall behind in language development. Encourage them to play some indoor and outdoor games, interact with family, friends and classmates, and maintain a healthy relationship with others.
• Plan some trips with your family. Visit your relatives often and teach them the value of relations. Encourage them to spend some good time with their grandparents. Your child is safe in the hands of grandparents. They are the best in child care.
• Teach discipline. It is important to correct them if they are wrong and let them know what is right. It’s ok to punish at times, however harsh punishment is not needed. Balancing between being strict and or too soft is hard. But try not to be too strict. Appreciate them and praise them for their good work. It motivates them to do more. Rewarding them when they do something good and punishing them for something which is wrong helps them differentiate between right and wrong.
• Sort out their activities and set a routine for them. It will help with time management and discipline.
• Teach them responsibility. Let them take responsibility for their own actions, mistakes and consequences. As a parent, be there to guide them but do not spoon feed. It is important for them to stand independently on their own legs. Help them learn out of their mistakes rather than making things easy for them.
• Be a role model; Set an example: Children try to copy their parents. Your tone, body language, expressions, and your behavior. So, what you do and how you behave matters. If you are trying to inculcate good manners in them, you try to follow those first. Try to create a joyous environment for your child. Let them grow happily.
• Accept their capabilities. It is not wrong to have some expectations from your child, but do not force anything onto them. Try to understand how much willing he/she is, to do. Concentrate more on understanding what are they good at, what are their interests, what is lacking, etc.
• Always make some time to ask them how their day was, what have they done all through the day if they had fun if they enjoyed the party they attended. This kind of conservations not only make them feel comfortable sharing their experiences with you but also improve their social interaction skills. They also feel better if they had a tough day.
• Most important, put your phone away when with them.

Parenting Don’t’s

No doubt we all love our children. We want them to have everything in life, and we try to provide them with all those things we didn’t have ourselves as a child. But this is not at all correct. Children need to understand that nothing comes so easily. It needs effort, hard work and dedication. By providing your child everything in advance or as and when the child asks for it, he/she wouldn’t know the value.

• Don’t say yes to everything. I know it’s hard, but if you don’t set certain limits for your child and say no, then it is going to be hard eventually as they start expecting more from you. Loving your child doesn’t mean to cater everything they ask for. They might end up choosing what’s not right for them and your ‘no’ won’t help at that time. Just do what is needed. Learn to say no; clearly. Explain to them why it is a no.
• Stop being over-protective. Don’t let them depend on you for almost everything. Just like you taught them how to stand up and walk even if they fall while their first steps, you need to encourage them to overcome their problems in their own way. You won’t always be there with your children finding solutions to the problems they encounter in life.
• Do not impose your decisions on them. It is not necessary that your child must do what you have done or what you want them to become. Let them become what they want to become. Do not try to change their interest as per your understanding of life.
• Don’t bribe your child with chocolates, sweets or any other treats to make them do something. You are giving them the wrong idea about making things work.
• Parents have a habit comparing their children with siblings or friends. Understand that everyone is unique in their own way. Do not compare your child with others as it makes them feel inferior. This will not only discourage your child but also develop hatred for others.

Today’s kids are more attracted to electronic gadgets than books and pencils. The more they are on these gadgets, the more the complications. They even lose grip over pencils and any object that complete their task of learning. There will be a negative impact on the handwriting. The weak grip of the hand means difficulty in holding a spoon and eating a meal, poor motor skills, and lack of fitness. Here are few Parenting tips we have put together for the well-being of the kids.