Patient Parenting

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I’ve never pretended to be the most patient in relation to parenting – but it was always one of my goals.  As a result, once dedicated to patience I slowly morphed into a fairly patient parent and raised some pretty amazing kids who are now productive adults.  Every parent loses their patience.  It is unavoidable and it is part of our humanness.  Our children are not perfect and neither are we as parents.

I believe that patience can be developed over time just like any other habit.  Good habits require your attention to ultimately see them manifest into your reality.  What better a habit could there be than to become a patient parent?

patience
Here are some techniques that may guide your parenting skills towards patience:

Count to ten.  This is an easy one.  When you feel frustrated or angry, pause. Count slowly, in your head, to ten.  When you’ve reach the number ten you will notice that you have given yourself room to pause, reassess a situation and your anger will have subsided a great deal.  If things are really out of control, add deep breathing while counting to ten in your head.  Breathe away every ounce of anger until it has left the room.

Here’s another one.  Try keeping a notepad nearby and write down any situations that are causing you to parent in a non-patient manner.  Notice if you see a pattern of behavior from either you or your child that is creating impulsive, angry responses.  This will assist you in developing ways to avoid bad reaction behavior patterns or situations that cause bad behavior in the first place.

How about a time out for the child.  A break for you.  You all may just need to take a break from the situation for a few minutes.  Everybody just calm down.  As a parent, during this break, plan your words, actions and decisions.  Reconnect with your child and calmly talk through the situation.  Finish with a hug.

Never stop teaching with love and compassion in your heart.  Our children mimic us.  Therefore, if you are aggressive in your parenting approach your child will reflect that pattern of behavior right back at you.  Remember, non of us learn things on our first try.  Find new ways to teach with love and compassion and patience.

Laugh.  Smile.  Let go.  Nobody is perfect, you have to enjoy this time with our kids.  Life should be fun – and funny.  Be happy.

Do you have some tips of your own on developing patience? Let us know in the comments.

Joy Kids Universe, LLC
The Energy of Attraction for Children
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Teaching Your Child to be Generous

The jury is still out on whether or not children need to be taught to give. A study by Notre Dame University showed that children as young as two years old start to show spontaneous helping behavior. Another study by the International Journal of Cognitive Science – Cognition – showed that helping proactively comes naturally to young children. On the other hand, another Notre Dame-funded study revealed a correlation between a particular gene variation and less generous behavior in preschoolers. Whatever the outcome, if you feel your child needs lessons in compassion and generosity, here are some things to remember. You can also catch the Joy Kids Express which offers suggestions on how to share the joy with all the wonderful children of the universe.

  • Start at home – Like other types of behavior and attitudes, a child will tend to do what it sees the parents doing. If your child sees you sharing, volunteering, and helping others, chances are the child will try to emulate your behavior.
  • Talk the walk – Even if you show a good example by being generous, talking to your children about generosity helps a lot. Research by Indiana University – Purdue University showed that, even with good role modeling, talking to children about generosity increased the probability of giving by 18.5% compared with not talking.
  • Use what’s around you – Take advantage of situations in your community to teach community workgenerosity to your child. Volunteer work, donating used clothing and toys, contributing to charitable organizations, spending time to help younger kids in school – these are just some of the ways to instill a spirit of giving in your children.
  • Put them in other people’s shoes – Broaden our child’s horizon by discussing other people’s needs with him or her. This will help create the ability to empathize with others, and empathy is a prerequisite to learning how to give and share. Joy Kids Universe believes this will also establish a long-term foundation for generosity in your child that will last all his life.

 

Help Your Child Express His Real Self

Every child is unique and a great part of a parent’s job is to discover this uniqueness. One of the best ways to find out is by encouraging your child’s self-expression: likes, dislikes, interests, specialties, everything that makes the child different. Letting the child express himself joyfully through arts, crafts, and other creative activities isn’t the only way. The Joy Kids Express offers these other ways to encourage self-expression.

HELP YOUR CHILD EXPRESS HIS REAL SELF (2)

HELP YOUR CHILD EXPRESS HIS REAL SELF

  • Interaction with other children – Expose your child to social environments and a chance to interact with other children, just as Casey Rose and the Joybug do. The child will discover what others like and dislike, face and handle challenges, develop a variety of relationships.
  • Give them choices – Whether it’s what to wear, what food to eat, what activities to engage in, the important thing is to provide the child with options to show his or her preferences. Let them know that their choice matters and it will promote positive and happy emotions.
  • Teach them how to disagree – Children are often on the receiving end of orders or instructions, like it or not. By teaching the child that disagreeing is acceptable, provided it’s done in the right way, you’ll open up a healthy channel for the child to express herself.

Developing the ability for self-expression will go a long way in helping the child become a self-confident, joyful well-rounded adult. Live life joyfully!

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Joy Kids Universe, LLC
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