Healthy Parenting Tips

Raising a happy, healthy child is one of the most challenging jobs a parent can have — and also one of the most rewarding. Yet many of us don’t approach parenting with the same focus we would use for a job. We may act on our gut reactions or just use the same parenting techniques our own parents used, whether or not these were effective and healthy parenting tips.

What you do matters.

Whether it’s your own health behaviors or the way you treat other people, your children are learning from what you do. This is one of the most important principles. What you do as a parent makes a difference.
Don’t just react on the spur of the moment. Ask yourself, What do I want to accomplish, and is this likely to produce that result?”

You cannot be too loving.

It is simply not possible to spoil a child with love. What we often think of as the product of spoiling a child is never the result of showing a child too much love. It is usually the consequence of giving a child things in place of love — things like leniency, lowered expectations, or material possessions.

Be involved in your child’s life.

Being an involved parent takes time and is hard work, and it often means rethinking and rearranging your priorities. It frequently means sacrificing what you want to do for what your child needs to do. Be there mentally as well as physically another tips from healthy parenting tips.

Adapt your parenting to fit your child.

Keep pace with your child’s development. Your child is growing up. Consider how age is affecting the child’s behavior.

For eg. the same drive for independence that is making your 3-year-old say ‘no’ all the time is what’s motivating him to be toilet trained. Similarly, the same intellectual growth spurt that is making your 13-year-old curious and inquisitive in the classroom also is making her argumentative at the dinner table.

Establish and set rules.

If you don’t manage your child’s behavior when they are young, they will have a hard time learning how to manage himself when they are older and you aren’t around. Any time of the day or night, you should always be able to answer these three questions: Where is my child? Who is with my child? What is my child doing? The rules your child has learned from you are going to shape the rules they apply to themselves.

“But you can’t micromanage your child,” Steinberg notes. “Once they’re in middle school, you need to let the child do their own homework, make their own choices and not intervene.”

Foster your child’s independence as part of healthy parenting tips

Setting limits helps your child develop a sense of self-control. Encouraging independence helps her develop a sense of self-direction. To be successful in life, they’re going to need both.

It’s normal for children to push for autonomy. Many parents mistakenly equate their child’s independence with rebelliousness or disobedience. Children push for independence because it is part of human nature to want to feel in control rather than to feel controlled by someone else.

Be consistent in your parenting.

If your rules vary from day to day in an unpredictable fashion or if you enforce them only intermittently, your child’s misbehavior is your fault.. Your most important disciplinary tool is consistency. Identify your non-negotiable things. The more your authority is based on wisdom and not on power, the less your child will challenge it.

Avoid harsh discipline.

Parents should never hit a child, under any circumstances. Children who are spanked, hit, or slapped are more prone to fighting with other children. They are more likely to be bullies and more likely to use aggression to solve disputes with others.

There are many other ways to discipline a child – including ‘time out’ — which work better and do not involve aggression.

Explain your rules and decisions.

Good parents have expectations they want their child to live up to. Generally, parents over-explain to young children and under-explain to adolescents. What is obvious to you may not be evident to a 12-year-old. They do not have the priorities, judgment, or experience that you have.

Treat your child with respect

One of the healthy parenting tips is to treat your child respectfully, a best way to get respectful treatment from your child. You should give your child the same courtesies you would give to anyone else. Speak to them politely. Respect their opinion. Pay attention when they are speaking to you. Treat them kindly. Try to please them when you can. Children treat others the way their parents treat them. Your relationship with your child is the foundation for his or her relationships with others.”

Book an appointment with Motherland Hospital or check out our Pediatrics Department if you have concerns regarding your child’s health.