Parenting Styles & Skills
Positive Parenting
All parents want to deal positively with their children. But with busy lives and increased stress, positive parenting isn't always at the forefront of parents' minds. Understanding how your outlook affects your preschooler or kindergartner’s future can help guide you toward a more positive style of parenting.
The Benefits of Positive Parenting
Kids benefit from positive parenting in many ways. It helps children feel safe, loved, nurtured, and, most of all, empowered. Why is it important to empower your child? Because empowered kids make better decisions, have higher self-esteem, and weather childhood much better than their less-empowered peers. Positive parenting leads to a positive sense of well-being in children. Kids that are empowered early on (especially starting in preschool or kindergarten) often accomplish more, feel more confident, and behave more independently. To empower your child, you should believe in them, allow them to be their own person, and love them unconditionally.
Why Positive Parenting Works
- Belief: Children who have parents that support their dreams tend to have a stronger sense of self than those who have parents that don't help them envision success. Let your kids know that, with hard work, they can achieve whatever they set their mind to.
- Individuality: Kids need to be individuals. Encourage your child to think independently, question, explore, and form their own opinion. Let your child know that their thoughts and abilities are valued, and that what they contribute to the world should be positive.
- Unconditional Love: All children deserve unconditional love. Yes, you can love your child, but not like everything they do. Keep negative behavior separate from your feelings about your child as an individual. Make sure that your child understands that even if their behavior is undesirable, they are loved unconditionally.
It’s important to stay positive because life is full of stress and challenges. Helping your children develop a high level of self-esteem, confidence, and independence is a vital part to helping them meet future challenges successfully. Positive parenting is an effective way to accomplish these valuable goals, while encouraging a strong bond between parent and child.