Being a good parent is a hard work indeed. It isn’t just giving in to all your children’s whims and material needs. It’s all about being able to provide for their emotional needs and being able to give them a secured and happy upbringing so that they may become a decent, self-confident individual. There is a lot of debate on what techniques, measures and tools parents should and should not adopt while raising their kids. One choice that is hailed by one school of thought is scorned at and rejected by another. A common example of this is monitoring of children’s digital gadgets and online activities using technology such as computer, Android, iPhone and iPad parental controls. This is seen as a blatant and unfair invasion of kids’ privacy by some parents, while others describe it as an essential child-safety measure. Pacifying the conflicting schools of thoughts is not important. What is important is that parents should be able to foster honesty, empathy, kindness, self-reliance and many other positive attitudes to their children. By giving their children a safe and happy childhood, parents can protect them from developing anxiety, depression, personality and eating disorders as well as drug and alcohol abuse.
Good parenting does not only take being able to provide the needs of their children – emotional or material that may be. The most important is understanding, respect and love between them. On that note, here are some insights how to become a good parent.
Always think what you do in front of your kids for it is your actions that matter most. To them, what you do is always right even if it is not. So, you must always think before you act and remember that your actions hold a great impact on their minds.
The love between you and your kids is very important, but don’t do it to the point that you just let them do what they want to do. This is very detrimental to their attitude if not corrected. This could lead to a false sense of their individuality. You can love them, but be firm in disciplining them too.
Be involved in your children’s life, but not too much. You are their parent, so you must know them, who their friends are, what they usually do and what their dreams are. This can be easily done by keeping an eye on their online activities, especially their social media interactions, an undertaking that has become considerable convenient since the advent of PC, Android, iPhone and iPad parental controls. However, you must also let them learn to be on their own, to rely on themselves and be independent. Otherwise, you are crippling them.
Most importantly, you must adapt your parenting style to their personalities. Not all approaches work for everyone. Sometimes, what is good to others does not fit for the other ones. As such, be flexible and understanding. That is the only key to being a good parent and having a harmonious relationship with them.
Socialize them with different people and environments, to help them become rounded individuals. If possible trips to other countries to experience other cultures can be useful. You can always buy online various international educational books and games that can be delivered by courier to anywhere in the world, to inspire an interest in different cultures.
Good parenting is not an easy job. If you can see on news sites, there are many articles posted that talk about good parenting and all that. You can also see news about what harsh disciplining can do to children and what implications it does to the family. There are those, however that live away from their loved ones, but you can still showing your love and be a good parent. You can always send educational gifts to show you care; it is now easy to send a parcel delivery to France (if that is where your family is) in this global time. So when it comes to love for their children, distance is no reason you that parent cannot show they care.
