Growing up, it feels like being a child, especially a teenager, is so hard, and no one is more privileged than adults. However, reality hits hard once adulthood hits you, and being a child is the only thing you want to do whenever life seems complicated. At least your parents could save you, but now you are too big, and now you are in charge.
What we never think about is being a parent is hard too. But, the grass is always greener on the other side, and once you become a parent, you truly understand how things actually are. Although, of course, nothing is harder than being a parent on some days. But, to be fair, as a child, the world of adults is an unknown world, and it’s only natural to want that world.
8 Best Parenting Advice
Once you grow up and check out both ends of the spectrum, you start missing the protective shelter of your parents. If you are a new parent struggling to make ends meet or even expecting kids soon, you have arrived at the right place. Scroll down to find out the best parenting advice that will help you sail smoothly through the hard days!
1. Express Your Love
It is commonly heard that when parents express their love openly, their high chances of spoiling their children. But we say that’s a myth. Spoiling your child has nothing to do with expressing love. Instead, when you indulge your child with material things, low expectations, or suffocate them with over-protection, that’s when you spoil your child.
You can show love in several ways that won’t spoil your child. For example, encouraging them to communicate with you, or daily affection is also something children look for in their parents. Thus, if you thought showing love was a part of newborn baby care, then you were wrong because no matter how old your child is, never shy away from expressing affection.
2. Practice Kind Parenting
As a parent, it is vital that you understand the control you have in shaping your child’s future relationships and experiences. Try to give them positive experiences and watch them grow into trauma-free young adults. So many children grow up with spiteful feelings against their parents only because of all the negative experiences.
It might seem hard to practice positive parenting at all times, especially while implementing a positive discipline schedule at home. However, as a good parent, you must teach your child what is right and wrong. When your child makes a mistake, treat it as an opportunity to learn from the mistakes instead of punishing them.
3. Be Your Child’s Safe Haven
Growing up, so many children cannot share tribulations with their parents, and that too is out of fear or even embarrassment. If your child feels that way, it sadly means that you have failed to create a safe place for your child, and your child cannot confide in you. This can lead to so many consequences.
Experts say that children raised by communicative parents develop better social skill-sets, emotional sensitivity and even have better mental health conditions. This has a lot to do with how parents shape most of our future relationships. Thus, focus on being an open, communicative parent your child can always count upon in times of crisis.
4. Do Not Be Physically Abusive
There is no other way to say it but spanking your child for enforcing short-lived compliance has been long canceled. As a parent in 2022, you cannot keep repeating patterns that existed when you were a child. If you have been beaten up often as a child, you should not do the same to your child.
When you start beating your child, it impacts them negatively. Your child begins to think that any issues can be solved by violence. It is a very important parenting advice that you have to break the pattern and treat such incidents as opportunities for your children to learn from – let your child learn from the mistakes.
5. Be A Great Role Model
Being a role model is not as easy as it appears to be on the surface. As a parent, you must feel obligated to be a role model for your child, and you are correct to feel that. However, often parents make the mistake of hiding their actual lives and enforcing a life of strict discipline.
Being a role model has nothing to do with being unnecessarily strict. Start talking to your child more often, discuss their goals, and most importantly, support them – you might not like the career your child chooses, but that does not mean you will force them to study something you want. Support goes a long way in setting healthy relationship goals.
6. Set Some Healthy Boundaries
Setting some healthy boundaries is something that parents almost never practice. Start respecting your child’s need for space and giving them the privacy they desperately need – giving your child privacy also shows you trust them. As a result, your child won’t feel suffocated at home.
If you are an unwed parent, encourage your partner to be equally open to your child. On the other hand, if you both do not want to get married and are worried about the child’s future, there is no need for that. The rights of unwed parents are no less than that of married parents. Thus, set up those boundaries and live a healthy life.
7. Reflect On Your Childhood
If you had a traumatic childhood, you have more reason not to do the same for your child. You have a choice: either you can become like them or break the patterns. Create new ones, like those that are positive.
If you had a healthy childhood, you have even more reason to give your child a similar happy childhood. You must focus on providing your child with a positive, healthy childhood no matter what you do.
8. Pay Attention To Your Wellness
This is the shortest but most essential parenting advice on the list. How can you raise a healthy child? How can you love your child if you do not love yourself? Thus, taking care of your mental and physical health is equally important! Indulge in some much-needed self-love every day.
Conclusion
Successful parenting is only possible when you start setting standards for yourself first before setting them for your children. Becoming a good parent also means choosing to avoid toxic parenting at all costs.
We look forward to useful parenting advice from you. Please leave your views in the comments.
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