Quite a lofty goal this Tuesday, eh? If you use my ten tips and still aren't a better parent.... You get your money back!
~coughs, clears throat, "ahem"~
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Ten ways to be a great parent
1- Don't spoil your kids.
Kids know quite well that they don't deserve all they ask for. They are just testing you. Please, please stop buying so much for your kids. When kids are spoiled in childhood it will rob them of the ability to work hard and delay gratification. Real life will pale in comparison.
2- Don't let bad habits form, because they won't go away.
It is your job to 'nip it in the bud.' Bad habits like- angry outbursts, selfishness, laziness, and lying do not resolve themselves with time. They intensify.
3- Stop protecting them from consequences.
The most loving thing you can do is teach this phrase, "Every action has a consequence. You choose the action and you are choosing the consequence."
4- Stop being inconsistent.
This freaks kids out, confuses them and they will lose faith and respect for you.
5- Answer the endless questions and listen to the constant chatter.
If you do not attend to their words, then the communication will stop before you know it.
6- Treat them as kindly as you would a good friend.
Learning to respect us (from their hearts) can not be forced, We have to model it for them.
It is useless to treat our kids with disdain and expect them to respect and truly honor us. The worst is when parents are sweet to other adults and then talk to their children like they are dirt.
7- Don't let them play the victim for your attention.
Playing the victim just to get our sympathises or to get their own way is passive aggressiveness to the worst degree. This behavior quickly becomes personality. Do you know a person with a victim mentality or a world-is-out-to-get-me-complex? That person learned to do that in childhood, at their mother's knee.
8- Love and enjoy your spouse.
You two are the example of how your child learns to love and relate to the world. Don't make me cite the mountain of evidence that shows a miserable marriage and/or divorce is really, really bad for your kids. You can google it, if you must.
9- Take two minutes at the end of the day with each child.
Say a little prayer or blessing when your child goes to sleep. Do this with older kids, too. It is in those precious quiet moments your relationship grows. You may hear things from your child that would not have been shared otherwise.
10- Hug your kids.
Everything from kisses for the babies, holding your toddler, tickling your preschooler, wrestling your school age child, to giving your older kids a hug and pat on the back.
Everyone needs warmth and affection. A good rule of thumb is for each person to give at least three hugs a day.
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