As fathers and mothers, one of the most difficult things to achieve when raising young children is knowing how to set limits for them; make them learn to adapt their behavior to certain norms, for their own good and that of others.
As a result, they sometimes fall into the short-termism trap, either by indulging in whatever they ask to prevent tantrums or by almost totally restricting their movements. Neither of these two apparent solutions is adequate for children to develop healthy ways of interacting with the environment and with others.
In this article, written by professional educators from https://writemypaper4me.co/ we will see some tips to apply respectful parenting of children to the day-to-day family, so that they incorporate consistent norms of behavior into their habits.
Tips for applying respectful parenting with your children
These are some basic tips that you can add to your parenting strategies for your little ones to educate them and relate to them from respect and empathy, setting limits but without constantly falling into a confrontation.
1. Explain what's okay and what's not
As much as they are young children, they need to understand the why of the rules they must follow, and if you do it by adapting your explanations to the type of concepts with which they have become familiar, it will not be difficult for them to understand.
Just because they are very young does not mean that they should function from ignorance, on the contrary: if there is something they do not know, like everyone else, they tend to invent possible explanations, so you better help them not to stray too far from reality.
2. Focus on encouraging appropriate behavior
Instead of focusing your attention on preventing youngsters from misbehaving, take the opposite approach. This is; do your best to get them to behave appropriately. This simple change in mindset will go a long way toward helping you be consistent in developing respectful parenting.
3. Highlight their progress
When you see that your son or daughter is taking steps in the right direction, it is important that you let him know that he is doing well and that you do it at the moment, without waiting too long. That way it will be easier for you to link that satisfying feeling to the behavior you just performed.
4. Teach him the importance of repairing the damage
Another aspect of respectful parenting is that it doesn't just put an end to bad behavior through punishments, but takes a much more constructive win-win perspective.
If a child does something wrong, the logic to adopt is to repair the damage caused to other people. In this way, not only are others compensated, but the child is offered a way to redeem himself that makes him feel good about himself, instead of adopting the role of a passive recipient of a penalty: he participates in the solution.
5. Spend time together
This is another aspect of respectful parenting that is often overlooked. Spending time together is not only essential to establish an affective bond with everything that involves; Furthermore, it is important so that the moments in which you establish rules are not seen by the minor as the only meaningful interactions you have with him, which favors a hostile climate and rejection of these rules of behavior.
6. As an example
On the other hand, set an example as much as you can, because the importance of rules is expressed through actions, not just words. Also, if he believes that a norm is only set for him, the child will feel that he is suffering an injustice, with which he may reject almost all norms in general.
In those things in which you do not meet the same rules as the little one because of the age difference (for example, when it comes to going outside without anyone else), you have to make sure they understand this.