5 Ways To Be A Better Parent

It’s a difficult topic to discuss, parenting. People parents in different ways and the methods that are used often depend from generation to generation. There are some people who parent with an iron fist, and some people – most people these days – parent with a gentle parenting view. There are some parents who choose to raise their children in the church, and other parents you’re not worried about things like religion and spirituality. 

 

There are some parents who listen to parenting podcast options on the school run, and other parents who simply wing it without any guidance. There are so many different ways to parent it can be difficult to decide where you fit, but being the better parent doesn’t mean you fit anywhere. It means you fit in with your children. Let’s take a look at five ways you can be a better parent.

• Communicate. A good parent listens to their children and talks to them. A great parent will communicate at all times. You can establish open and love in communication with your children so that as they grow older they trust you. It’s hard to keep the lines of communication open with a teenager, but there are ways that you can help them to listen to you and often that means getting help from outside sources. It can also help you to know that you’re not the only parent trying to communicate with teenagers and all you’re getting back grunts.
• Do things as a family. Whether your family is just you and your children, you have a partner with your children, they have a stepparent living in the house, it doesn’t matter the dynamic – do things together as a family to keep your bond as close as possible. Doing things together makes you a better parent because you are giving your children your time. And the way the world is right now we really need to be giving our children our time.
• Teach your children to make good choices. You can do this by modeling the choices you would like them to make. If you want your children to behave in an appropriate way, you need to model that behavior yourself so that they can see it in action. Children are very literal, which means that they are all about the show and tell. You can tell your children to be a certain way until you are blue in the face but you must also show them your actions. If you are kind and charitable and giving, the children will be, too.
• Give them room to solve their own problems. You want to be a good parent? You need to look at giving children space to solve their own problems even from a toddler age. When the tower of bricks falls down don’t jump to fix it let them figure it out. You’re a safety net, not an agony aunt at all times. Let them make the small mistakes and help them to see the error of their ways and you’ll be able to raise mature children.
• No matter what, show them love. When they make mistakes, when they do well, when they are inappropriate, when they’re angry – no matter what, show your children love.