Raising God-conscious, moral, successful children with a sense of civic responsibility in today’s world is not easy. It is also not impossible. Effective parenting is the key. As parents struggle to raise successful children, they need knowledge and skills to communicate wisely with their children and create happy, loving family relationships and homes.
During your child’s development stages, he/she achieves few developmental milestones. As your child grows gradually, there are occasions when you take him/her to the park, go shopping, attend a party or go to visit a friend. However, you may be a little concerned whether your child will be able to socialize at these places or not. Whether they will be able to grow into a totally sensible and sensitive mature adult or not. Here are some ideas and guidelines for you to look deeper in this aspect.
Communicate with your child– Keep having regular conversations with your child about their interests and inclinations. That will help your child open up and initiate conversations independently. Talk to your children and ask them about what happened at school, their favorite song, what did they do together with their friends. Talk to your child about the impact of excessive screen time on their eyes, and what all they miss doing because of that. Introduce your child to sports and help them take it up for a long time.
Read together– Set up a ‘reading time’ with your child and support their enrichment by reading out interesting stories and poems to them. You must also encourage your child to keep doing their favorite activities that interest them the most. This will help in stimulating mental and motor skills of your child.
Undivided Attention- When your child needs you to hear him/her out, keep your devices away and choose to talk to your child. This way, children realize their importance over the phone/laptop. They understand human sensitivity and get in touch with their deeper self and not just be superficial.
Engage & Involve- It is important to keep your child engaged in activities that involve touch and feel such as drawing, painting, reading, gardening, dancing and singing. These are the basic human expressions. In the times of technology we are forgetting these basic expressions rather we feel shy to be free. Motivating your children to express themselves freely will bring out their hidden talents and potentials.
Let the kids lead the way– The current situation provides a great opportunity to be led by our kids, Bronstein says. “Being out of their usual school and extracurricular routines can be disconcerting. Ask your child what they need to feel happy at home. Letting your kids lead the way lets them know that what they think and how they feel matters.”
It also gives them an added sense of autonomy, which can promote positive emotional growth, and will help them develop executive functions — skills like problem-solving, strategizing, and concentrating. These are much bigger determinants for success in life than IQ alone, so if your kid wants to skip the math worksheet and play with blocks or paint a picture or go exploring in the backyard instead, let them, and know that counts as education, too.
Polite and Firm Attitude– Indeed it is a difficult task to raise a child. At times children do get on to our nerves. At those times parents need to keep themselves calm and find out an effective way to teach and correct the child. Raising children has short and long term bad effects. That only shows your inefficiency to handle the difficult situations. ‘Politeness and firmness’ is the paradox which has the answer to this issue. This is something which a parent needs to teach themselves. With trial and error and a consistent intention of wholesome growth will show you the way and that way will be your own unique way. The wholesome growth in parents will not only guide the child but also will set an example for them to follow.
Being an Example- It is easier said than done. Giving advice and motivating your child is easy but, the most basic way we humans learn is by watching. If you only preach and don’t practice it yourself then all your preaching might not work. Rather than ‘telling them’, ‘show them’.