Positive Parenting
Have you noticed the TV commercials and magazine ads these days? Marketers have taken hold of the fact that our kids are growing up too fast, and they are capitalizing on it for their own profit. Little girls can buy fashion dolls and toys that teach them to use credit cards. Boys are learning the fundamentals of war games with "new and improved" video games that make things more realistic than ever. These things have become glamorous in our children's eyes, but is this really the pace we should be setting for our kids. What happened to kids playing outside and using their imaginations for creative and fun play dates. Those days are long gone. So, what is a parent to do?
Your child's self-esteem can take a real beating each and every day. Losing the soccer game. Not being invited to the party. Studying hard for a test and getting only a "B-." Being teased and called names at recess. With high self-esteem, your child can easily overcome these difficulties and bounce back quickly from disappointments. With low self-esteem, daily challenges can seem overwhelming and your child will lack the self-confidence to persist when life is hard, as it often is. Self-esteem is like a suit of armor.
Recreational and school sports are a way for kids to practice and grow their talents while learning important physical and social skills. Sports are not an environment for bickering parents, bullying opponents, profanity, and referees that do not receive the respect that sports demand. But yet, this type of behavior is all too common. As parents, there are steps you can take to ensure that your child has a positive experience while playing sports.
As an adult, you may find it perfectly comfortable to talk about it with a person you meet in the grocery store - but yet, the very idea of sitting down one on one with your own child to have "the talk" can be extremely uncomfortable, or even absolutely mortifying. The reality is, it's not even a talk - it's an ongoing conversation that will need to happen more than once!
Parenting is a wonderful and joyful journey...and then your kids became teenagers. Now it is like living with a creature from the planet Mars. Teens have their own language, charisma, and attitude that seems to transform overnight. You see your child changing, so you decide to change, too - becoming less of a parent and more of a friend. After all, it is your child's friends who are now number one, right? So, in order to stay connected with your child, you must succumb to being your teen's friend. By doing so, they can manipulate your power as a parent. Teens may or may not do this consciously, but it happens every day. For instance, if your teen wants to stay out later than curfew, they will want you to be their friend and say it is okay. Do you feel worried about letting them stay out too late or are just afraid to let them know for fear that you will not be a "cool" parent any more?
Kids need goals just like adults. Without goals, there is nothing to achieve. If there is nothing to achieve, there is no sense in doing anything. Kids don't necessarily know how to set goals for themselves, whether they be short-term or long-term goals. And even when kids do set goals if there is no reward at the end, they tend to lose their motivation and forget about those goals they set for themselves.
If your child is preparing to graduate from high school within one to two years, chances are you have given some thought as to how you can prepare them for the exciting years that lie ahead - the years when they will transition into adulthood. There are so many things they need to learn before graduating from high school, including:
Raging hormones, bad skin, relationship problems and peer pressure: that's the life of a teen. The life of a parent of a teen - it's not any easier. What do you do with an adolescent who talks back, is disrespectful, ignores you, prefers spending time with friends rather than family, doesn't follow the rules or is just plain difficult? The parenting strategies that worked when your child was younger may not work so well anymore, not now when you're dealing with an adolescent who seems to know everything!
