Parenting Tips
Some Parenting Tips
Parents and family are partners in training and development of each child. The purpose every of training is to make the child live independently. This requires classroom learning to be extended to home situation. Good parenting helps foster empathy, honesty, self reliance, self control, kindness, cooperation and cheerfulness in the child. It promotes intellectual curiosity, motivation and desire to achieve. It also helps protect children from developing anxiety, depression, eating disorder and anti-social behaviour. A parent’s relationship between the spouses as well as with their child will definitely be reflected in child’s actions and behaviour. If a parent do not have good relationship between the spouses or with the child, they will never listen to parents.
A positive attitude is the single most important quality for anyone who works with children having special needs. The entire family has to make efforts to understand what handicap exactly means to the child and how it impinges in his life. Parents must realize that they are the first teacher of the child and no one can contribute so much as they can in the natural setting of their home. Parents therefore, need to be involved in their child’s life. They have a role in decision making as to what is needed for the child. They must keep pace with with child’s development but should never have unrealistic expectations and must accept the limitations that their child has. Hard disipline and pampering both must be avoided.
All children in this world are different from one another and there should be no comparison with any other child. A child with special needs may have a number of extraneous circumstances such as physical, mental, emotional or behaviour conditions and some times more than one. A lot of patience is therefore needed. Under no circumstances parents must curse their child or their fate in front of the child. Anger doesn’t improve the situation, it always worsens. Parent must understand their child’s special needs, be supportive and know when an expert’s help is needed and should not feel shy or awkward in seeking help. You are not alone. Never judge your child by their behaviour. Children need to be treated with respect.
Parents have some very important roles to play. Some of these are:
- Caretaker of physical needs
- Patient listener
- Provider of encouraging environment
- Stimulator of child’s abilities
- Playmate to child
- Teacher of values, attitude and skills
- Giver of love & affection
- Comforter in times of trouble
- Role model for child to imitate discipline
- Motivator to learn new things
- Admirer of child’s achievements
- Non judgmental
Parents should always be in the knowledge of following three important questions:
- Where is my Child?
- Who is with my child?
- What my child is doing?