Parenting has never been easy simply because human beings are complex. Still, many parents believe it has become even more challenging in modern times. Maybe it’s because the world itself has become more complex, demanding more of our time at work. If both parents need to work to pay the bills, it leaves less time to spend with children, which unfortunately leads to less emotional bonding in the family.
Although you might feel overwhelmed as a parent, there are plenty of parenting resources today for raising children, such as parenting blogs where parents share their experiences with each other and offer helpful suggestions.
Here are a few parenting tips that you might find useful.
Treat Neighbors Like Family
Do you know your neighbors? Long before social distancing was necessary, many Americans lost that neighborly feeling.
The reasons for this are not at all clear.
Perhaps it’s because we no longer have wonderful influencers like the late American television host Fred Rogers to teach us and our children how to be good neighbors. Or maybe the economic pressures have limited how much time families spend together and neighbors get to know each other. It could also be because of the consistent deluge of frightening news about how we’re living in a dangerous world.
Still, regardless of the reason we’ve lost that neighborly feeling, the idea of getting along with your neighbors remains a priceless social value.
You can still connect with people in your neighborhood on an app like NextDoor, which offers a great way to make connections with your neighborhood, allowing you to not only connect with your neighbors but also to find out about local community events around where you live. The developers have coded many safety features in the forums, such as an algorithm that automatically flags racial profiling on NextDoor.
Read Bedtime Stories
While bedtime stories will help your children fall asleep, there are many more benefits to this nightly ritual.
Listening to bedtime stories helps enrich language development, encourages the growth of imagination, and fosters a lifelong love for literature. In addition, your children will probably develop a sense of empathy for the struggles of life as they learn to see the world through the eyes of the main characters in a story.
Also, don’t be surprised if they develop a broad vocabulary and become increasingly articulate and well-spoken after a few years.
And, of course, reading bedtime stories encourages stimulating conversations with your little ones, including a chance to improvise on the story if you feel a need to personalize them a little more or add a dash of comic relief if the plot unexpectedly turns scary.
The Delicate Balance of Self-Esteem
As a parent, you don’t need a degree in psychology to appreciate the logic behind raising self-esteem. It is obvious that parents who develop self-confidence in their children raise them to flourish in life. Children with high self-esteem usually get on better with other children and perform well in school, getting good grades and excelling in sports.
Unfortunately, while the “why” is clear, the “how” is a little murky. How exactly do you boost your children’s self-esteem? If you’re too strict as a parent, your children will lack the self-confidence necessary to try new things. Conversely, if you’re a little too lenient, your children may be a little too audacious for their own good, pulling practical pranks on everyone and causing mischief for the sheer fun of it.
The short answer is that you do it by learning many subtle skills over time, such as how to show love and support while also setting limits and teaching responsibility.
Parenting has its fair share of challenges, but it’s also one of the most rewarding experiences in life.
