10 Best Ways to be a Really Great Parent

Homeschooling Boys - Gaining Maximum Success from Minimum Cooperation

Well it started with 10 and just kept growing…

Stay married

The best thing a man can do for his child is to love its mother. Children from divorced homes do worse emotionally, do worse in school, are likely to have a low self esteem and are more likely to get divorced themselves.

Don’t move too often

Children need stability in their lives. A physical move is more emotional for a child than for an adult. They need to develop long term relationships and learn to live in community. If the group of people around them is constantly changing they will have difficulty forming long term relationships.

Children love routine

Give your day structure, and your week structure. Children like to know “It’s Friday, so it’s movie night, it’s Saturday, and so it’s pizza night.” They also like dinner at the same time each day.

Be there when they get home

If you can, be in the house when your children get home from school. Knowing you will be there gives them security, and can help improve their self-esteem. Ask about their day and listen.

Eat dinner together at the table

Eat dinner together as a family, round the table, without distractions from television or computer.

Have a good balance of discipline and love

Too much discipline or too little is not healthy for the child. You need to balance it with love. Too much love, which is really being weak in discipline, is not good for the child.

Make your child do chores

When I was in college I met someone who had never cooked a meal in his life, his mother had always cooked for him. I thought, “What a mean mom not preparing her son for life.” You are not being kind to your child doing everything for him.

Read parenting books

Parenting is not easy, educate yourself on how to be a better parent, and don’t stop learning.

Hug your children

Even teenagers need hugs. When your child doesn’t want to hug you, they still need a hug.

Be positive, don’t be negative

Emotions can cycle up or cycle down, the more positive you are, the more you will help your children to improve their emotions.

Don’t pick up after your child

Teach your children to put away what they got out, all the time. It will become tiring for you, the parent, but it is a very necessary life lesson.

Spend quantity time together

There are a lot of people talking about quality time, but quantity time is more important. Let your child help with your chores, take a child shopping with you when you go. They become the moments where relationships improve.

When your children approach you for attention, give it to them as soon as possible.

Children are “now” people, they want to talk to you right now. If you make them wait they literally forget what was so important and the message you give your child is that they are not important.

Look after yourself

You can’t be a quality parent if you are always giving out. Look after yourself and have some time to yourself or with your friends and you will be a better parent for the break.

Share fun times

Having children can make your life more fun. You get the opportunity to go to exciting places with them and introduce family memories.

Read to them

Bedtime stories are great, they calm your active children down at the end of the day and you have something that you have shared together. Many times during the day the stories that we have read together come into general conversation. Stories don’t have to be at bedtime, you can read to your children any time of the day.

Listen

Really listen to what your child has to say. Let them know that what they are saying is important. Don’t shut them out when they are talking to you.

Avoid comparisons

Don’t compare your children with each other, and don’t compare them with each other. Let them improve on the person they were last week, last month, last year.

Don’t over plan for your child

Let your child have some control of his life, don’t make all his decisions for him.

Serve healthy food

Children need healthy food to grow up healthy, not junk food.

Talk to your children about sex

Don’t let schools teach your child about sex, you do it, and then leave the door open and say “If there is anything you ever want to talk to me about, I’ll always listen.”