10 PSYCHOLOGICAL TIPS FOR BEING A GOOD PARENT

1. Be a good role model for your child. Without realizing it, children try to imitate their parents. So they will copy elements of language, behaviour, thinking, values.

2. Show your child feelings of love. Children need parental love for normal psychological development. The parent’s love for the child cannot be conditioned by a high grade or similar.

3. Talk to your child as much as you can. Answer their questions, tell them stories, let them tell you what they have learned, what they have done, what they want. Communication will develop him intellectually and strengthen his sense of trust in his parent.

4. Play with your child. Through play, children learn a lot of useful life skills in a fun and enjoyable way. Some games can stimulate his intellectual processes, creativity, argumentativeness or bring out special skills – artistic, mathematical, organizational, physical, etc. Let him work to win a game. Don’t give him victory on a plate, but don’t discourage him either.

5. Let your child socialize with other children. Humans are gregarious creatures who are comfortable in a community. Social interaction develops his confidence in his own strengths and some strategies to be persuasive and determined in achieving his goal. If at an early age the child is isolated, he or she may have problems with interpersonal interaction later in life.

6. Teach the child that he can say whatever he thinks to his parents, even when he is wrong. Such an approach makes the child see parents as the most trustworthy people in his or her life. That way, he won’t be afraid to say when he’s wrong or ask for advice…at any age. He treats every request the child makes with the utmost seriousness. He believes, sincerely in it. Respect him.

7. Don’t spoil the child. Many parents, out of a desire to show their love for their child or to compensate for the absence in his life, become hyper-indulgent and indulge their child’s every whim, unjustifiably and irrationally. Such an approach destroys the child’s censor, makes him manipulative, preening, inauthentic, selfish, profligate, malicious – with harmful effects on his later development. Maintain an age-appropriate spirit of discipline, but never resort to physical violence or swearing at the child. The child is exploring and needs to understand what he has done right and what he has done wrong.

8. Fear is not a solution to educate the child. Children who are afraid will hide from their parents, from other people, they will develop mechanisms to avoid the truth (lying), which they will gradually but surely reinforce throughout their lives.

9. Don’t let your child consume your entire day. The child tends to see him/herself as the center of the universe, but family life also includes: spouse, relatives, friends, who need attention. Absolutizing your relationship with your child can isolate you from your loved ones, and by the time you realize this it may be too late. However, with the arrival of the child you have to accept that your family life has changed.

10. Let the child feel independent. Sometimes you can let your child be independent, make decisions, make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. Maintain control, but give him the impression that he decides. Don’t smother him with your worry, your rules, your dreams, your way of being. The child needs to express his personality and become truly independent when he is older.