TIPS
To Improve Parenting Skills
Parenting is the most difficult job you will ever have. It takes time, patience, understanding, stamina and the ability to laugh at really weird things.
Everyone wants to be a good parent. No one ever says "I want to be a really bad parent and totally mess up my kid forever." But we all need help and reinforcement at times and all of us have had the "bad parent" moments.
For the next few months this series of articles will focus on principles, ideas and skills necessary for this very important job of parenting. It's good to remember that all of us are the best parents we can be with the information, background and knowledge we have. Ideas that are discussed in these articles might be different or new to you. This doesn't mean that your parenting skills are bad, it just means you can learn and grow - beginning with where you are now. We're not going to look back, we are going to move forward. Everything presented in these articles will be based on years of research at the University of Nebraska and other sources. There will also be some ideas from a variety of other parenting programs - all of which are based on research.
Each week there will be some questions for you to answer and skills for you to practice during the week. Just like strength conditioning, the more you exercise your parenting skills, the stronger they will become.
To begin, think about the kind of person you want your child to be. What qualities do you want your child to have? What values do you want your child to have? Then after you have thought about this, write your ideas on a sheet of paper, frame it and put it somewhere you can see it often. If you lack a frame, stick it on your refrigerator or on your bathroom mirror. Share it with your children. Read it every day. Writing it down and sharing it makes it a commitment and a promise. You can use any format you want. If you have trouble, begin with "I want my child to be someone who ---."
Next week we will begin discovering ways you can help your child become the person you want him/her to be.
To help University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension determine if this is an effective way to provide parenting information, please call the Hamilton County UNL Cooperative Extension office at 694-6174 or e-mail jfriesen2@unl.edu. Feel free to comment, ask questions or offer suggestions.
Written by Lynne Osborn, UN Extension Educator. Source: Parenting Your Child Effectively by Marilyn Fox, UN Extension Educator and The 10 Greatest Gifts I Give My Child by Steven Vannoy.
