10 Proven Parenting Strategies for Raising Emotionally Healthy and Happy Kids

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Questions About Modern Day Parenting

When will start teaching our children intentionally that misunderstandings can occur that can erase family relationships, miscommunication can mean getting fired from their job, that underachievement is a choice, a silly thing in their head can be an unacceptable social behavior, that attitude can determine their destiny?

When will we teach them about intuition, charisma, prioritizing tasks, setting and managing expectations, that they can create and adopt their own value system? When will we teach them these lessons, they need for life?

How will they learn that sometimes, most times, we will have to swallow our ego, that homelessness exists and that giving to others in any form is the best thing that can to them?

Some Commonsense Don’ts

We, at FutureSTRONG Academy, believe that empowerment comes via responsibility. Unless its life and death, we don’t need to rush over to help. Help them understand how things can become silly to unacceptable with only just one bad choice. Our goals for them should be to empower them to believe in themselves, and work towards realizing their highest potential.

Just by virtue of being their parents, we assume we are their leaders. You simply can’t get away with saying, “Do as we say, and not as we do.” Just think about that. It’s preposterous. Everyone wants to understand why they’re doing what they are doing, and so do our children.

Fail Them As Parents

Real life that plays on playgrounds, play dates and sleepovers isn’t built to keep children out of trouble. That’s the only way to prepare for life in high school and beyond. Showering children with attention is different than rescuing their every fall. Paying attention should help pick up on their needs and gifts.

Every day, we request parents to fail their children – not help them voluntarily in every situation – unless its life threatening. And to give them a chance to make choices and decisions to figure out their consequences. So, fail them periodically. Don’t try to put a band-aid on their problems right away. Don’t try to fight for them. Leave them to learn a little. Remember, risk averse children find it very difficult to move onto the next phases of their lives whether it is going to high school or to college.

After all, when we’re not risking much, we’re not doing much.

How To Teach Social Emotional Skills At Home

We all aspire to raise children who treat themselves and others with compassion and respect. When we work together, as coaches and parents, we can do the most for our children’s well being and development.

Here are some ways we can bring Social and Emotional learning into our children’s lives at home:

* Be a role model. Showcase to your children all the positive aspects of a social connection when you interact with family and strangers through compassion and understanding.
* When you see behavior in your children that you love, say so.
* Encourage them to express their feelings, by asking them to describe them out loud, while sharing age appropriate emotions of yours with them.
* When you watch movies, or news, ask them if they recognize social behaviors like conflict and resolution.

Further Reading

Combat teen screen time

Stress and emotions in teens

Gaining the trust of your teen

How parenting must evolve

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