If “not being heard” is the number one complaint of most parents, then “lack of motivation” has to be number two! I have often heard parents say, ” I have to ask my kids a million times to get hem to finish something.” Wouldn’t you rather supervise them in a positive way, and have them initiate tasks on their own?
Confidence is only a byproduct of healthy self-esteem. It may be true that some kids are born a little shy or some kids are born to be leaders, but that doesn’t mean parents can’t create a confident child who will have a healthy self-esteem, even if the child is naturally shy. But how do you teach your kid to become a leader, not a bully?
Balance is one of my favorite words. It’s not just my favorite word; it also happens to be the key to your success when facing daily parenting challenges and stress. Having a healthy dose of balance between setting expectations and modifying some of these rules occasionally teaches your kids flexibility without ignoring the rules on whey they rely.
It can begin at an early age…your kid learns how to manipulate you. Babies realize that crying gets attention, young kids learn that begging gets them what they want, and as they get older, they learn about guilt trips and other manipulative behaviors. As a parent, your job is to teach your kid that there is greater benefit to negotiating rather than manipulating.
Negotiating with your kids is the best way to avoid power struggles and to “figure it out”, whatever “it” is. It’s coming to an agreement rather than getting involved in an argument, it’s working together as parent and child to negotiate issues that come up.
Power struggles happen in every home. I’ve known great parents who still get into occasional power struggles with their kids. Good negotiation skills can help eliminate those power struggles when you use these negotiating hints…
One of the best ways to reduce power struggles with your kids is to learn the art of negotiating with them.
There are many moments in the first twelve years of your kids’ lives when you can prevent them from making poor choices. At the very least, it is possible to negotiate successful alternative with them and avoid power struggles. To accomplish such negotiation and to decrease power struggles in your home, you need tools – most importantly, the power of negotiation. Part 2
One of the best ways to reduce power struggles with your kids is to learn the art of negotiating with them.
There are many moments in the first twelve years of your kids’ lives when you can prevent them from making poor choices. At the very least, it is possible to negotiate successful alternative with them and avoid power struggles. To accomplish such negotiation and to decrease power struggles in your home, you need tools – most importantly, the power of negotiation.
As a parent who wants open and productive communication with their kids, it’s important that you develop some important tools and skills in order to be effective. One such tools is…
If your kids would listen to you all the time, then you’d be happy because your kids wouldn’t repeat your mistakes and would ward off their own mistakes, right? Wouldn’t that be just heavenly? However, if they listen to you all the time, you will also end up with robot-like kids who think only like you do, take no risks, push no boundaries, invent nothing new, and never learn to assert themselves. Obviously, that’s not what you want. What you really want is a kid who knows when to listen and follow conventional wisdom and when to think for him or herself.
