Positive Parenting: The Benefits That Last A Lifetime
By Michelle Bery
Raising children can be subjective and complicated. But there are
many hard and fast rules that seem to bridge the gap between a
myriad of parenting styles. Positive parenting - offering children
positive feedback for their achievements and efforts - can go a long
way towards raising positive, emotionally healthy adults.
Too often children are noticed - and punished - for their negative
behavior. While discipline and boundaries are always appropriate,
you must be sure that your child is not only receiving negative
attention. When children are noticed for their bad behavior and
ignored when they are acting appropriately, it sends the wrong kind
of message. And what can result - when positive parenting is not
utilized - is a lifetime of acting out in order to get attention.
Instead, demonstrate positive parenting by celebrating the
accomplishments of your children. Have a special dinner for a great
report card, hang good schoolwork up on the refrigerator, give
consistent verbal praise for a job well done, and take special
notice of good behavior in social settings. Children will respond to
positive parenting. Anyone who has experienced it will attest to the
fact that a child's face will light up when you verbally validate
good behavior. They'll be sure to repeat it because it earned them
high regard and a pat on the back.
Positive parenting is not a complicated concept. Children are people
too. And if we take into account our own experiences as adults, it's
not difficult to see how positive parenting works. How often do we,
as adults, wish that our hard work would be noticed in our place of
work? Instead it seems as though we're only addressed to be dressed
down for something we failed to accomplish. After awhile, this
negative attention can really beat you down emotionally. It seems
futile to keep putting in the hard work when it's never noticed.
Children feel the same way. If their positive accomplishments are
never validated, then they don't learn to continue. Often we assume
that they know their efforts are appreciated. But those who practice
positive parenting know that a child's efforts must be verbally
recognized - consistently and enthusiastically.
Positive parenting can reap enormous rewards. Not only will you
encourage the healthy development of your child through their
adolescence but you will ensure them an adulthood filled with
self-confidence, emotional health, and happiness. And there's no
greater reward than that.
For easy to understand, in depth information about parenting visit our
ezGuide 2 Parenting
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