Are you a parent struggling to form a healthy relationship with your children? Here are the ten most common mistakes parents make when raising them.
Enabling Poor Behavior
While parents are not directly responsible for instilling poor conduct in their children, they do enable some behavior by not paying attention to it.
For instance, letting them have all the screen time in the world is not the right way to show that you care for them. You must be assertive when it comes to keeping a balance between sleep, nutrition, exercise, and playtime.
Being Poor Role Models
- Children imitate what they see and learn better through actions than words. Therefore, if you fail to practice what you preach, they may not have a reason to listen to you advocate it.
Leaving Good Behavior Unrewarded
- Rewarding does not necessarily entail getting your child anew phone or a PlayStation. It has a lot to do with words than the actual physical reward. Parents often nag and criticize children for doing something questionable. In the same way, appreciating when they do something nice is a way to motivate them to keep doing it.
Ignoring Their Emotions
Just like adults, children too deal with different moods and emotional states. The key difference between and an adult and a child, however, is the way they deal with the emotions.
This isn’t to say that you should start giving them solutions to their problems but rather communicate and listen when they’re in a crisis. Let them be independent but also pay attention to what they feel.
Failing to Set Boundaries
- No matter what parenting styles you incorporate when dealing with kids, nothing beats the importance of setting boundaries. Children must know that they’re not extraordinary beings and their needs are as important as the rest of the family.
However, the right way to ensure that your children follow the rules you set is to have a healthy relationship with them in the first place.
Staying Exhausted
- One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a parent is to ignore your own needs while raising children. Exhausting yourself out will have an impact on your parenting ability and make your children feel that you’re resentful.
Drifting Away From Their Partner
- Children need both parents for a healthy brought up. By bonding with your significant other, you let your child see the importance of your relationship and help them grow with a similar thought pattern. On the other hand, bitterness and resentment among couples only make matters worse.
Not Encouraging Quality Family Time
- Raising children is not a duty or an assignment. Being a family means finding ways to enjoy each other’s company. Therefore never underestimate the importance of weekend getaways and vacations for a healthy bonding period.
Not Asking For Help With Chores at Home
- As opposed to performing all the chores on your own, involve your children too. This way, they’ll feel equally responsible instead of enjoying the perks of your labor.
Not Providing Enough Attention
- Children need a lot more attention than they’re able to show. Asking them how their day went or if they need help with homework are little ways of showing that you care despite having busy schedules of your own.