Parenting is one of the most significant responsibilities that one has to take care of in their adult life. When it comes to parenting young children, there are so many things that parents need to take care of.
A lot of things in life require plenty of thought and learning. This is precisely why it is essential to make sure that you know what to do and what not to do when caring for young children. It is one of the things that parents should definitely not “wing it” and instead put their entire thought and effort into to ensure they raise their children right.
Parenting is not supposed to be a chore. It is a beautiful bonding experience with your children, ensure that the way you raise your children is done effortlessly and passionately.
Things to Take Care of When Raising Young Children
Listed below are some of the crucial things that parents of young children need to be aware of when they learn about fatherhood or motherhood. Follow them religiously, and you’ll be good to go in most of your parenting journey.
- Strengthening or Weakening Behaviour:
When it comes to strengthening or weakening a behaviour, it is essential to follow specific strategies that are scientifically approved and beneficial for your children and their mental health.
When it comes to strengthening their behaviour, make sure that you reward them for every good thing they do to make their behaviour a habit. A positive appraisal does a lot in making a person confident and showing the same behaviour you encourage.
This can also go wrong if you are not careful and strengthen your children’s wrong behaviour. When it comes to weakening a behaviour, it is essential to use negative reinforcement to make sure your child does not repeat the same action.
However, it would help only if you are very careful with negative reinforcements by not including harsh and physical punishment, which is morally and ethically wrong. It can also scar your children for life.
Negative reinforcement includes removing any factor from the life they consider enjoyable—for example, reducing their screen time, giving them a time out, verbally reprimanding them, or taking away their toys if they show bad behaviour.
- Leading By Example:
Children learn less by theory and more by practical examples. Whatever you do in your life in front of them, they will copy you. If you teach them not to mess up their toys after they are done playing, make sure you show them how to clean it up and assist them in learning this behaviour.
Or, if you want your children to greet people nicely, make sure that you do it first in front of them, so they learn. You also need to be careful with this because if you show any abusive or wrong behaviour in front of them, they will copy that.
If not entirely, children grow up to be like their parents, making sure you lead them with suitable examples.
- Dealing with Tantrums:
If you are a toddler parent, you would know well how difficult it is to control them when having tantrums. Sometimes, parents give in to their children acting out and provide them with whatever they ask for.
This can be very dangerous in the future, as children become used to not hearing a no from their parents and learn that they can get whatever they want by throwing a tantrum.
The way to deal with your children acting out is to not physically restrain them or shout at them for not listening to you but to use a gentle approach in disciplining them.
It is also essential to simultaneously not give in to their demands and make sure you communicate with them gently and kindly. For example, your child wants to play in the mud desperately and is throwing a massive tantrum.
You can hold them gently but firmly, so they don’t go out and talk to them in a calm, soothing tone. Offer them other activities to distract them or play with them. This can be helpful and effective in the long run.
- Maintaining Equality:
One of the worst things that parents do is discriminate among their children. This has a significant impact on their lives and can also teach them that it’s okay to favour or ignore people based on who they are.
Ensure that you treat your children with equality and provide them with equal opportunities, attention, and love. This can contribute a lot to their mental and physical health, as many people are linked back to their childhood.
- Being Careful with Punishments:
Disciplining a child doesn’t have to be harsh or abusive. In general, many people justify physical punishments and brutal methods to maintain children as being practical.
The truth is, it scars a person for life and develops a lot of issues in them like low self-esteem, multiple insecurities, trust issues, PTSD, etc. These issues can become a factor in their lives that hinders their growth.
Most often, children also grow up resenting their parents for how they treated them, which can strain their relationship. Your punishment to your child doesn’t have to be abusive, and hitting a child does more harm than good to them.
Instead, following strategies like positive or negative reinforcement, which are scientifically proven to train people effectively, is much more effective in raising your children safely.
To Sum It Up:
The responsibilities of parenting young children are a lot, but it is quite possible to do the right thing if you know the suitable methods. Young children are a joy to have in life, and they’re also more challenging to deal with than adolescents.
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