The world is a tough place. As a parent, how can you teach your child how to navigate the challenges they will face? Research shows that children who feel loved and supported by their parents are more likely to be successful in life – but how do you show your support if you’re feeling overwhelmed as well?
What does it mean for kids when their parents don’t have enough time or money for them? The answer’s not easy, but these 15 tips will help put you on the right track.
Get the FREE Printable Grocery List!
- How To Be a Better Parent: 11 Quick Tips
- 1. Love your child unconditionally.
- 2. Be present.
- 3. Be flexible and willing to adjust how you parent.
- 4. Allow your child to fail.
- 5. Build your child's self-worth.
- 6. Treat your child as an individual.
- 7. Cherish the time you do have with your child.
- 8. Make communication a priority.
- 9. Be a good role model.
- 10. Let your child know how much you love them every day.
- 11. Take care of yourself.
- Why Taking Care of Yourself Is Important
- Summary: How To Be a Better Parent
This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through one of my links, I may get a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting KindergartenPrep.org.
How To Be a Better Parent: 11 Quick Tips
1. Love your child unconditionally.
Your love has to be completely unconditional for it to truly benefit your child. If you only love them when they are being “good,” they won’t feel secure in your affection. Kids who grow up knowing that their parents will still love them even if they mess up or fail at something have a much stronger sense of self-worth.
LATEST POSTS
- The Benefits of Having a Routine: Your Mom Life Hack
- How To Talk Positively to Yourself: The Power of Self-Talk
- Balanced Blood Sugar for Moms: The Secret to All-Day Energy?
- The Busy Mom’s Guide to Managing Blood Pressure for Moms
- The Joys and Challenges of Being a New Mom
2. Be present.
If you don’t have enough time for your kids, make the most of the limited time you do have. It’s easy to feel guilty when there are so many other things demanding our attention. But how can we teach kids how important family is if they’re not seeing how much their parents care?
Make every effort to be present during your time together. As long as you’re putting in the effort, your kids will feel how much they matter to you – even if it’s only an hour a day right now.
Need a good laugh? Here are 50 Funny Motherhood Quotes To Make You Laugh Out Loud
3. Be flexible and willing to adjust how you parent.
Be willing to adjust how you parent. We all have our own ideas about how children should be raised, but every child is different and will respond better to different ways of parenting.
We should never be too stubborn to change how we’re doing things if it makes more sense for our family – and how can we be surprised that our children aren’t flourishing if they’re not getting what they need from us?
Watch this video for 18 things great parents do differently.
4. Allow your child to fail.
Your kids will learn how to navigate the world by making their own mistakes. They won’t learn how to do things if you’re constantly intervening to tell them how or how not to do something, or what’s going wrong and how they should fix it.
As long as they’re safe, let them figure out how to get through everyday challenges on their own.
Find out how to have a happy family with 14 practical tips.
5. Build your child’s self-worth.
Kids who feel good about themselves are better at dealing with the world around them. Maybe you’ve heard that self-esteem is just a myth – how can anyone really know how much they’re worth if their parents don’t tell them how special they are?
It’s true that loud declarations of how amazing your kids are won’t instill them with self-love, but how we treat them and how we speak about them send a very loud message.
6. Treat your child as an individual.
Don’t compare your kids to each other or to how their siblings or friends are doing at any age. As much as you want what’s best for your child, they won’t learn how to be their own person if we’re always pressuring them to be like someone else.
If you can show your kids how unique and special they are, they’ll believe it.
7. Cherish the time you do have with your child.
A lot of parents lament that there just aren’t enough hours in the day. I get it! We may be guilty of checking our phones at the dinner table or have to catch up on work from home at odd hours but it’s important our children learn how important they are if we don’t make them a priority?
Make every effort to not let life get in the way of your time together – it’s the best gift you can give your child!
8. Make communication a priority.
Do you feel like you and your child are speaking two completely different languages sometimes? Make it a point to really connect with your kids every day, even if it’s just checking in during breakfast or before bed.
When we don’t take time out of our busy days to talk with our kids about how their school day was or how they’re feeling it can be difficult to understand how they’re processing the experiences in their lives.
9. Be a good role model.
Just how much do you think your kids look up to you? Let’s face it – how we behave is how they’ll learn how to behave, even if they don’t always make the best choices or see all of our examples in action.
If we don’t expect great things from ourselves, how can we expect our children to do any better?
10. Let your child know how much you love them every day.
Kids who feel loved are more confident about how they approach their lives. Maybe you grew up in a household where there was yelling or physical punishment – if that’s how you were brought up, it can be difficult to know how to show your children how much you love them without repeating those old ways.
Yes, love can sometimes be scary because it means that our heart is exposed for someone else to break or take advantage of, but it’s important to love our children so that they will feel safe showing love to other people in the future.
11. Take care of yourself.
It’s only natural that when we’re stressed or worried, how much time and energy we have for our children can feel even more scarce than it already is. But how can we give our kids what they need if we don’t take care of ourselves?
When we’re feeling overwhelmed and our kids notice, how can we expect them to keep their feelings in check? Get enough sleep, eat healthily, and take time for yourself every day. As the saying goes – you can’t pour from an empty cup!
RELATED: 11 Self-Care Tips for Busy Moms: Why Taking Care of Yourself Is Important
Printable Self-Care Calendar
Check out our Self-Care Calendar printable in our Thrive Berry Etsy shop!
Making your health a priority is crucial, and having a strategy can assist you in staying on top of your game. We all know how easy it is to get sidetracked during the day with everyday activities. Taking time for ourselves so we may be our best is sometimes neglected. This printable was made with you in mind!
Why Taking Care of Yourself Is Important
The process of self-care is how we take the time to make ourselves a priority. When we feel good, we can provide better care for our children and their needs.
It’s critical that you take care of yourself so that you can continue to live a healthy lifestyle and help your children to be their best selves.
You got this, mom!
Summary: How To Be a Better Parent
It’s not easy to be a parent, but it is worth working on how you can become better. Self-care is important because if we’re taking care of ourselves and feeling good about how we live our lives, then we will be able to take care of our children and their needs in the best way possible.
Visit our Thrive Berry Etsy shop to discover planners, health and fitness trackers, journals, calendars, and fun activities for your kids!
Share your tips about how to be a better parent in the comments below!
