5 Commitments You Can Make To Be A Better Parent
Life is one big balancing act. We balance running a house with having a career and raising children, all the while trying not to drop any of those balls. As a child, you wish and wish to be an adult, thinking about the freedom from rules and parents and curfews and when you’re an adult you wish you were a child, free of bills and responsibilities and worries. Being a parent adds to those worries and not because your children are difficult or because you’re a bad parent, it’s because you’re striving every single day to keep a balance that your children can feel secure with. Worrying is part of the package! You worry that your children won’t be interested in you if you’re caught up with work and the house. You worry that you’re not doing enough to make them happy. You worry you’re too hard on them when you correct their behaviour. These worries are normal and are a part of the parenting game. Being a parent? That’s a tough job. We always feel like we could be better at it, more patient, more loving: just… more.
The good news? Each and everyone of you out there reading this blog post and nodding along? What you are doing right now as a parent is likely enough. However, if you feel like you could be doing more, and you want to do more for your kids, you can become a more inspired, happier parent. If you’re wondering what you could be doing to be more for your kids, then read through the commitments below and decide whether you could commit to any of them for your family.
Commit To… Taking Care Of You
Before you can be a good parent, you have to know how to look after yourself. You can’t possibly look after children and ignore your own health and wellbeing. An exhausted, stressed and sick parent isn’t one who would 100% be a parent to their own child. It’s just not as simple as it looks. Choosing to be a healthier weight so that your heart and blood pressure stay healthy and choosing to give up cigarettes with the help of ecigwizard.com are two of the biggest things a parent can do for their children. Getting healthier and giving up a habit are hard; it is not easy to change your lifestyle, but if you are doing it for your children it becomes an entirely different challenge. A happy healthy parent is one who looks out for themselves, and it’s not selfish to do that.
Commit To… Loving Their Other Parent
Children thrive when they feel loved and cherished; that’s just science as well as common sense. It doesn’t matter whether you are both together or not, parenting equally together and making your parenting journey about your child keeps them feeling loved, cherished and secure. Commit to making an effort with your co-parent; whether they live with you or they don’t, and you will see a shining difference in your child and their behaviour. Love your children together, even if you don’t love each other romantically anymore.
Commit To… Staying Connected
It’s easy to lose touch with your child, even if they are living in the same house as you. You need to regularly make a point of spending time together and getting to know each other. Children change as they get older and you only get about ten good years of their life before they start to break away from you and want to be their own person with a fierce independence. Your connection to your child needs to be unbreakable, which means you need to set up routines with them that make them feel connected to you. Hug them every day and wish them good morning. When you tuck them into bed at night, ask them what they loved about their day before you kiss them goodnight. Keep consistent routines like that which make them feel like they matter, and their words matter. You’ll see such a difference.
Commit To… Mutual Respect
There’s nothing more draining than a child who argues with you. Children grow and learn to form their own opinions, which is the goal, but this has to be mutually respected. You need them to respect you and you also need to respect them. You don’t have to agree when they have an opinion, but you should openly question their views. There’s nothing more refreshing than a five-year-old who has a voice about the world around them. It’s nice to see a child who can articulate their thoughts. However, if you are dealing with less than ideal behavior, then you need to realize that mutual respect needs to be taught. Check out tips here on how to convey that.
Commit To… Guiding
Children are just as complex as adults, they just cannot articulate their emotions as well as we sometimes can. As an adult, it’s up to you to help them to use their words and not their fists to convey emotion. Guide their behavior and focus on the good instead of the bad. Children behave to appease their parents not because they want to. If they are guided with a loving heart rather than an iron fist, you’ll find your child has a soft and open heart toward you rather than a hardened one. Redirecting behaviour with positive words instead of using negative ones goes a long way to your child understanding where you are coming from.
A parent should be a person of authority, but that doesn’t mean you have to be harsh. You can be a better parent simply by entertaining the idea of listening to your child and seeing their world through their wide and innocent eyes. If you can commit to that in the very least, then you are going to feel pride in the well-rounded person you end up raising. Being the best parent means loving your children the best way that you know how, and no one can fault you for that.
