Parenting is hard work and despite all the support, no one can truly prepare you for the challenges that come with being a parent. You need to love, care, and guide your children through everyday life even when your own life seems completely messed up. When it comes to children, you can’t afford to slack off. Hence all parents need some strategies to help their kids thrive and survive through childhood.
When our kids are born they are little pieces of perfection. We look at them and promise that they are going to have a perfect life, that we will be the perfect parent, that the life challenges we faced they won’t have to.
Wouldn’t it be lovely if it really turned out that way?
We all have our challenges. Kids especially. It’s always been hard to be a kid, with school and acne and braces and lost best friends and that dreaded gym class. They don’t want us but they need us.
Here Are 5 Ways to Help Your Kids Thrive
1. Take the time to sit with them.
Just be in their presence. So many of us spend our time running around, multi-tasking. Our child is at the table, doing homework, and we are making phone calls, chopping vegetables, paying bills.
Take a few minutes and just sit next to your child. Share the silence.
Kris did that one night. Her daughter was reading a book and she joined her on the couch with her own book. After a few minutes, her daughter put down her book and told her mom about something that happened at school that day. Kris shared that the interaction meant a lot to both of them and that she got just a little insight into her daughter’s life.
Related: To Raise Good Kids You Must Do These 5 Things – Reveal Harvard Psychologists
2. Listen to them.
We like to think that we listen to our kids when they talk to us but many of us are doing other things when they do so. Have you ever found yourself saying “uh-huh” when your child pauses for reaction and realizing that you have no idea what they just said?
When your child talks to you stop what you are doing and really pay attention. Even if it’s a frivolous story you might get some nugget of information for future use.
3. Don’t be a helicopter parent.
Children are going to make mistakes. They NEED to make mistakes. They NEED to learn how to do things on their own. If you are always hovering, picking up the pieces when they fall, they will never learn how to do it on their own.
Julie always tied her daughter’s shoes for her. Always. And then, on her daughter’s first day of school, Julie wasn’t there to tie them for her. Her daughter was crushed and didn’t want to go back to school the next day. Julie taught her daughter how to tie her own shoes that very night and she happily went off to school the next day.
Related: Helicopter Parenting: Why It Fosters Failure
4. Be positive.
Yes, we have all had challenging life experiences, experiences that we don’t want our children to have. But, no matter how hard we try, we can’t stop them from happening.
When you see your child facing something that you faced and failed at, DON’T let your feelings of failure enter the conversation. Think about what you might have done differently and share that with them instead. Be positive.
5. Take care of their health.
It is essential that all of us take care of ourselves, that we get enough sleep and exercise and eat a healthy diet. Many kids these days don’t get enough of the first two and too much of the last one (and often not so healthy).
When your kids become teenagers it is very difficult to influence their lifestyle choices so it is important to work hard in their early years to instill good habits. Make sure they have a comfy bed and that they play outside after school. Limit their screen time. Have healthy food available but don’t make Oreos totally taboo.
Kim’s kids had a steady diet of frozen pizza and French fries that they consumed in front of the TV. Her kids were always born at bed-time which made the morning routine especially difficult. At my suggestion she tweaked their diets and they ate dinner together at the dinner table and suddenly bedtime was a dream and the mornings were better too.
So there you go, these are 5 ways to help your kids thrive. Really, none of these tips are reinventing the wheel but they are often overlooked amid the chaos of everyday living.
But you can do it. You are doing it already. Just pay attention and tweak things here and there and you will see a huge difference.
Do you have any stories about ways you have helped your children thrive? Questions about the challenges that regularly arise? I would love to hear from you…
Written by Mitzi Bockmann Originally appeared in Let Your Dreams Begin
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