Parenting may be the hardest yet most important—and ultimately the most rewarding—work a person can do.
Lesson 1: Tidy the House
Many parents would say that parenting is one of the hardest things a person ever does. But only half of the reasons for that difficulty have anything to do with children. While most lessons in this program will provide ideas for working with children, this lesson will consider the factors in ourselves and our own lives that make parenting difficult.
Lesson 2: Look on children with compassion
A feeling of irritation can be our friend. Just as physical pain may alert us that we have a pebble in our shoe, so irritation with children can alert us that our way of understanding and relating to those children lacks compassion. Think of a child who irritates you fairly often. Can you discover more compassion for that child by giving the benefit of the doubt or studying the child’s behavior from his or her point of view?
Lesson 3. Provide emotional first aid
Providing emotional first aid does not come easily to parents. Most of us are inclined to lecture, punish or fix. That doesn’t work any better with our children than it worked with us when we were children.
Lesson 4. React to problems in ways that teach
The trouble with techniques that use the parents power is that they are often not effective when the parent is gone. A child who has been punished for certain behaviors may merely make sure not to do that behavior when the parent is around.
Lesson 5. Help them get what they want in a way you feel good about
The job of a parent is complicated. We want to encourage learning and curiosity but we also want children to be safe.
Lesson 6. Love lots and love well
While much training for parents focuses on guiding children, the most important factor in their development is love. In fact the resilient children who flourish in spite of many difficulties are those who have someone in their lives who loved
Lesson 7. Celebrate the joy
If we only focus on today’s challenges and forget yesterday’s joys, we have less energy for the demands of the day. Remembering the good times gives us the purpose to solve today’s problems.