Jean Tracy, a fantastic Parenting guru asked me to write a guest blog about raising optimistic kids. You can find it and many excellent parenting tips on her blog: http://www.parentingskillsblog.com/parenting_skills_blog_fro/2011/11/parenting-who-else-wants-8-ways-to-raise-optimistic-kids.html
Subscribe to it: I know you will like it!
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November 11, 2011
Parenting: Who Else Wants 9 Ways to Raise Optimistic Children?
Parents, if you want tips on raising optimistic kids, you’re in for a treat. Our expert blogger, Dr. Parnell Donahue, is an author and a pediatrician. He has 9 tips we can start using today. Let’s find out what he suggests.
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How to raise optimistic kids!
1) Be optimistic – kids become us! So be the person you want your kid to become.
2) Be like Thumper from Disney’s Bambi who said, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” Never speak ill of others, give only authentic compliments, but give as many as you can think of, not only to the children, but also to others you and/or your kids interact with.
3) Spend lots of time with your kids having fun. But be sure you maintain your position as parent, don’t become a friend. Kids have plenty of friends, and it scares them to think feel have no parent!
4) Set limits on behavior, let them know what the rules are and why! Too many kids, who feel free to do whatever they want without restriction, will find plenty of limits and restrictions when they end up in jail. Remember, the place to correct misbehavior is in the high chair, not the electric chair.
5) Give kids chores to do as well as homework. Reward them when they try hard and notice their success. When looking at their homework papers spend most of your time going over the things they got right. Let the teacher work on the ones they got wrong. They’ll excel so they can spend more time with you! Nothing succeeds like success, and nothing fails like failure.
6) Listen to them from the time they start talking until they walk down the aisle. If your “ear-lids” are always open they will continue to talk during the great teen years.
7) Expect and program good behavior and success. If they know you think and expect them to be careful safe drivers, they will become what you expect. If they hear you say, “They are great kids now, but I’m afraid of the teen years, I don’t know what they’ll be like then.” You’ll get what you fear. What you say is what you’ll get!
8) Don’t sweat the small stuff, what if they come home on time, but forget to make their bed in the morning? So what! It’s much better than coming home late, and making their bed in the morning. Most everything is small stuff!
9) Remember time flies by and when they become the most wonderful people in the world they’ll leave for college. Tell them to have fun, and don’t let them hear you say you wish they didn’t have to go because you’ll miss them so much. You don’t want to give them guilt about leaving.
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Here’s a big “Hooray!” for Dr. Parnell Donahue. Thank-you for your excellent advice. We appreciate you.
Parents, Dr. Parnell Donahue shares advice from teens in his new book, Messengers in Denim: The Amazing Things Parents Can Learn from Teens.
You’ll find his outstanding book at Amazon go to: http://goo.gl/585S7.
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Thanks for the opportunity of working with you. Thanks, too, for the great plug about Messengers in Denim, I appreciate your endorsement!