Top Parenting Tips To Think About

If you are a first-time parent, you can prepare as much as possible, read as many books or articles as you can, and watch dozens of videos. Yet no matter how prepared you may feel, the reality is something you can never quite imagine until you go through it first-hand. Being a parent is one of the best and most rewarding things that you will ever do, yet it can also be one of the most challenging. This is why we have put together some top parenting tips that can help you along your way. 

Always encourage your child

It is important to always encourage your child and not to do too much for them. If you see them concentrating on something or trying to do something such as tie their laces or put a toy in the right place, don’t rush to help them. Instead, encourage them to keep trying and not to give up. You don’t want to teach them that every time something is hard, you will do it for them. By allowing them to learn from their mistakes and persevere, it is a valuable lesson they will take into the rest of their life with them.

Don’t compare your child to their siblings

If you have other children, it can be very easy to compare them against each other. By doing so, it can make the other siblings feel upset or as if they are good enough at certain things. Instead, try to be positive and look at what the individual children are good at in their own way. If you want one to behave and the other is, you could perhaps say “copy your brother/sister, they are behaving well” but do this in a positive manner.

Openly communicate with your child

Communication between a parent and a child is key and it is important to always be as open as you can with them. If they ask you a question, try to answer it as openly and honestly as you can. If the child has misbehaved, instead of shouting at them, take them to one side and find out why they acted that way. Explain to them why it is not okay and tell them different ways that they can channel these feelings of frustration. This way they will learn to communicate by talking calmly rather than shouting.

If your child is acting up, see if there is a reason behind this.

If a child is being naughty, it could be that they are upset about something. Speak to them and find out what it is and how you can fix it. For example, they might not be able to speak properly and this could get them down. Combat this by taking them to a child speech pathology expert. You might find once this issue is fixed that they are much better behaved. Check that they are also not coming down with an illness, or are not falling out with other children in their nursery or school as this can also have a negative impact on your child.

Monitor how often your child uses the internet/ a screen

While screen time can be good, you also don’t want them to spend too much time on it. Let them have a certain amount each day and then encourage them to do something else such as playing in the garden, playing with their siblings or playing with physical toys. Things such as building blocks, art work, paint or baking with you are all ways that they can develop important skills, while also staying away from a screen. The internet can be isolating and not the best influence so the less time they are sat watching or interacting with it, the better. Make sure you have filters on their internet usage so they can’t see anything that is inappropriate for their age group.

These are just a few simple parenting tips that you can use to give your children the best start in their lives.

By ensuring you are supportive of them, they will grow up knowing and feeling that they can do anything they put their mind to. They will always know they can talk to you when they have an issue and won’t feel worried or scared to come to you if they have a difficult problem. Remember that parenting isn’t easy but never feel like you are failing. Remind yourself that you are doing a great job and it is a learning curve for you too!