Be an amazing parent:
Quick Parenting Points:
Parents are still the #1 Prevention to Risk Behavior
A) Peer groups are important but children/Teens always look to Parents and trusted adults for guidance.
B) Children/Teens need discipline: If you cross a bridge, you feel safer when there are guide rails on either side. Discipline is the guide rails for children. It gives them boundaries, limitations, and restrictions. A kid in a candy store will eat too much candy. With a set of rules, they know how to make healthy choices in their lives.
C) Rules give a child structure. Two of the top needs of children are structure and consistency. With rules, the teens/child can blame their parents for saying “No.” One time someone asked me to go swimming when it was clearly too cold out. I didn’t want to go but was sure my parents would say, “No.” So I said, “Sure, let’s ask” so I could save face. Knowing parents will say “No” to unhealthy behavior is a nice fallback plan for a child.
D) Parents need to be the solid rock that child/teens can cling to when handling the rocky seas of adolescence.
E) Children/Teens learn fundamental values, beliefs, and behavior from the core family system…especially adults. So think about what values you wish to teach your children. Make sure you talk to them and model for them your main values. Example: Honesty, dependability, hard work, ethics, education, religion, friendly, loyal, or understanding. Whatever values you wish to encourage in your child. (Personal note: Some of my top values were: Honesty, Hard work, Dependability, Education, Spiritual beliefs, and Family.
Parenting is a leadership role. You set the tone for the family and it’s rules, belief’s and values. This is an important task. It gives your child a guideline on how to behave. When you instill strong rules, beliefs, and values in your child, it will lay the groundwork for prevention of destructive behavior. Therefore, parents or guardians are the #1deterrant for prevention of bad behavior.
Some other parenting resources would be The Power of Positive Parenting: A Wonderful way to Raise Children by Glenn Latham and Sidney W. Bijou. Positive Parenting in Action by Laura Ling and Rebecca Earnes. For more Valuable Quick Parenting Tips go to www.supportivetalk.com . You can also choose to book a conversation to discuss your parenting or child discipline woes.