10 Parenting Tips Every Parent Should Know | Younglabs

Smart parenting is not easy parenting. It takes patience and hard work. To help your children become the best versions of themselves, as parents you need to first be that yourself. The thought of doing everything right as a parent can be daunting and so can the information across parenting websites in India. But fret not! To make it a little easier for you, Younglabs presents the ten commandments of parenting for you to follow every day:

Be a role model

“Be the change you want to see” is what Mahatma Gandhi always said. This holds just as much for parenting. Don’t just order your child to do things. Lead them by example. Children learn best by observation, much more than they do by instruction. So, be the person you want your child to be. Exude positivity, discipline and every other good trait you want your child to develop.

1. Express affection

If you think showing affection towards your child means spoiling them, you’re wrong. What spoils them is allowing material indulgence, leniency and never saying no. Showing love means appreciating their efforts, telling them that you are proud of them, spending time with them, listening to their problems and taking them seriously. This creates an environment of happiness, warmth and encouragement that children need growing up.

2. Practice positivity

Positivity is not something you can grab at a supermarket and install. It is a quality that is learnt over time and when you have children, it is of the utmost importance as a parent that you reflect it constantly. This will allow you to teach them about effectively dealing with negative experiences. It is difficult to practice positive discipline but it must be done to ensure the right character building in children. Also keep yourself updated with positive parenting tips to practice them regularly.

3. Build trust

Allow your child to fall back upon you no matter what. Be open-minded and do not react to unwarranted behaviours. Instead, listen, understand and talk it through. Your child should be comfortable talking to you about anything. Accept that he/she is a human being after all and may experience any emotion or feeling that is humanly possible. Do not judge and be a friendly guide. Be more responsive and less reactive.

4. Communicate

We keep hearing about the benefits of effective communication but not all of us practice it especially with our children. You would not believe the positive outcomes of simply talking to your children every day. Do not expect them to say what you want them to. Let them speak their mind and then give them direction. When there are expectations attached to communication, your child might start hiding problems and feelings from you and that is the beginning of an unhealthy relationship.

5. Learn from your own experience

As children, we have all experienced discomforts with our parents and those should be clues for what not to do with your children. Reflect on your own childhood and try to recall what you disliked about the relationship you had with your parents. What was it about their behaviour towards you that you did not like? Ensure you do not repeat those behaviours with your children.

6. Take care of yourself

Parenting is also a full-time job so take time off. In the pursuit of raising children, do not give up your entire life. Take out time for yourself and your partner. Indulge in your hobbies from time to time. Take care of your health. If you are unfit, you will not be able to take care of a child. Avoid stress as much as possible. Not only does it lead to a bad lifestyle, but it also reflects in your parenting and brings negativity within the household.

8. Do not hit

Being authoritative is one thing, but being violent is an absolute no. Authority can be implied by various other methods and does not require you to lift a hand. The consequences of hitting a child are never positive. This only sets more fear into the child’s mind and heart and pulls you further apart from them. Use positive reinforcements and show discipline and strictness through other means like looking stern, changing your tone, creating a seriousness around a particular topic, and so on.

9. Stick to what qualities matter most to you

Always remind yourself what exactly it is that you want from your child and what you want them to learn. Forget about the poster boy, just remember the qualities that you want to teach your child and focus on them. Do not set unrealistic expectations and demand good grades, good behaviour, good health, good manners, and good grooming from your child. That is unrealistic. Think of the main qualities that really matter to you and that you would want your child to also pay attention to and work on them.

10. Keep yourself updated with parenting knowledge

If you start to look, there is a lot of information available on parenting. You just have to take out the time to keep yourself updated with it. At Younglabs, we try to make it easy for parents to find the right information by bringing all possible knowledge and expertise under one roof. If you take out the time to go through the knowledge available, you will continue learning every day and never be out of touch with current trends. The way we raise children is changing very fast as the world grows digitally. Therefore, keep yourself informed about positive parenting tips and make sure your children are future-ready.

Being a parent means being a guide, friend, teacher, and companion for life. Therefore, if you do not pay attention to how you are playing all of these parts, it can affect the child’s present and future.

Have a question about parenting? Visit us at younglabs . As a leading parenting website in India, we are here to guide you and will be happy to help.