“There is no such thing as a perfect parent. So just be a real one.” -Sue Atkins
Parents will face many challenges with their children, some more difficult than others. One extremely difficult challenge is how involved to be in your children’s lives. Now all parents should be involved in their children’s lives, but there is a huge difference between being overbearing and being absent. The trick is to find the middle ground and the parenting styles that work best with your children. As a parent, you should understand what aspects of your children’s lives to be involved in and why it is important to be involved in those aspects. Let the following paragraphs serve as a guide to involved parenting.
Parent Involvement in Schools:
When you have a child, you’re not just a parent, you are an educator too. Being involved in your children’s education is significantly valuable to helping them do well in class and achieve higher grades. At home, you want to create an environment that promotes the importance of schooling and encourages learning, while also attending school events (parent-teacher conferences, sports, class events, general meetings, extracurricular activities, etc.) Be sure to set high yet obtainable goals for your children too. You don’t want to be unreasonable with your expectations but you want to make sure they do go above and beyond the bare minimum.
Parent Involvement in Decisions:
You never want to see your child make poor decisions. However, you need to give your children some freedom to make their own choices. It’s an important part of growing up and learning lessons. As humans, we are bound to make mistakes in our lifetime, but what we learn from mistakes we made on our own are what help us grow and become the best possible versions of ourselves. Now, you want to remember you are the parents so don’t be hesitant to set up basic ground rules for your children. This will act as a guide that steers them towards good decisions while giving them the freedom to make their own choices. You can implement this by giving them small choices to make such as dinner options, what to watch on TV, and what to wear for the day. Feel free to make a list of small decisions you can let your child make so they can develop better decision-making skills.
Parent Involvement with Feelings:
This becomes more important as your child grows up, especially in their pre-teen to teenage years. It’s your natural instinct as a parent to want to know what is going on with your child or what they are feeling. However, you do not want to be overbearing. Giving them some time or even a few days to process their emotions is crucial and can be beneficial in many ways. It allows them to work on dealing with their emotions while also showing you respect them enough not to pry for something they aren’t ready to share. If you don’t notice any improvements to their mood after a while, then you could attempt to talk to them about it. For more information on parenting, check out some of TYRO’s parenting classes that are available both in-person and on-demand: