As a parent of two small children, and even with my education and training, I can say that parenting is a difficult job. Typically people tend to parent the ways in which they were parented but it is important to think about your parenting style and its effectiveness, even how it relates to each child since not all children react the same. When working with families, one of the first things that I try to do is to help parents to have open communication with their children because it is important that your child feels as though they can come and talk to you without being judged, criticized, or getting yelled out. But as a parent, how do we create that relationship with our children?
I recently came across a book that can be helpful for parents with children of all ages titled, “Parent Shift.” It gives applicable tools that parents can use with their children to help foster better communication with them. Please consider reading it if this is something you would like to learn more about.
I also recently came across this article related to parenting titled “Secrets to Parenting Successful Children.” The article does not define “success” as children who grow up to be doctors, lawyers, CEO’s of large companies, etc. What this article discusses is that many parenting experts focus on important aspects of child-rearing like sleeping, eating, bonding or discipline but what parents need to know most is how to give kids the values and skills to succeed as adults. The article below offers some great suggestions of important values to teach your children to help them be “successful”
http://time.com/5578064/esther-wojcicki-raise-successful-kids/