Positive parenting is about bringing out the best in your child, by listening
and understanding, praising and encouraging their efforts, noticing and
rewarding good behaviour and doing things together that you both enjoy.
This starts from the earliest days of your relationship with your child.
In trying to be helpful, it is often easy to point out where a child is going
wrong and forget to notice the things that go right. By doing this you are
unwittingly giving your child lots of attention for negative unwanted
behaviour, rather than for the good behaviour you would prefer them to develop.
It can also undermine your relationship with your child. Parental attention and
praise is one of the biggest motivators for children so you need to use it in
the right direction! Not only will this influence your child's behaviour in a
positive way, it will also make your child feel happy, loved, wanted and secure
and this is the basis of life-long confidence and self-esteem.
A sense of self-esteem is your child's best protection from peer pressure. You
can help to foster this in many ways, for example by being a positive role
model, giving positive accurate feedback, identifying and redirecting your
child's inaccurate beliefs and by being spontaneous and affectionate. Make them
feel great!
Encouraging your child to eat healthily does not mean denying them food they
enjoy. Healthy eating is about having a varied, balanced diet and enjoying lots
of different foods. Younger children often refuse to eat certain foods and
teenagers may go through food fads. These differences are normal. But some
eating problems are
more serious and if you are recognising signs of difficulties, contact a health
professional for advice and support.
Promoting the health of your child is a task that most parents do without
thinking. Whether it involves encouraging your child to brush their teeth, keep
fit by sport and regular physical exercise, and reminding them to pay attention
to personal hygiene, you are an important source of information and advice and
an influential role model for your child.
Teenagers have to learn to make their own decisions and establish their
independence from their parents. Unfortunately their decisions might not always
agree with yours. That is why tension is normal. Choose your battles and let
some go! Be friendly and supportive and let them know you have been through it
and that
you are always willing to talk. The main concern for adolescents is whether
what they are going through is normal. Remember to give them the practical
information they need about the physical changes and reassure them that their
physical development is perfectly normal.
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