Becoming a parent is never easy. Especially for millennials, it becomes a tough grind to raise a kid while constantly struggling between traditional and modern parenting techniques.
Modern parents do not want to be too strict with their children nor do they want them to be spoilt brats by extreme pampering.
Here is a quick guide to many parents who are questioning their parenting skills and asking if it is OK to pick a fight with their children over trivial issues:
It is OK to have pick fights for the below 8 issues with your children.
The Reading Fight: Make your kids read. He says that for kids who are not natural readers, it is a fight worth picking to make them read, as reading is tied to everything from cognitive development to the ability to focus.
The Outside Fight: Morris suggests that the natural world teaches valuable truths like, “ There’s a way things work that I must adapt to (because it won’t adapt to me), there are things I have no control over, there are cycles and seasons to life,” hence, it is essential to ask your children to go outside for, “Discovery, wonder, peace, and joy.”
The Work Fight: It is important to make your kids participate in household chores. Morris says, “There are age-appropriate ways kids can help around the house from 2 on. They need the hard work, life skills, and ownership that comes from pitching in. Plus, there are priceless life principles you can only learn with a mop in your hand.”
The Meal Fight: Having meals together helps in lowering the risk of depression and also decreases the probability of substance abuse. Hence, it is important to have regular family mealtime. Morris says, “It’s less about what family meals accomplish, and more about what they represent. Our lives are a blur of incessant activity. Meals together are a physical pause to recover a truth so easily sacrificed at the altar of busyness.”
The Boredom Fight: It is important for kids to have unscheduled time so that they can work towards mindfulness, stillness, and meditation. Morris suggests that boredom is a skill and it is important for parents to raise kids who desire to develop the ability to be bored. He says, “It’s hard as a parent to deal with the assault of boredom complaints. But if you give in and fill up their time with external stimuli, you’ll raise an activity addict. Resist the urge to give them a distraction. There will always be much to do. Make them learn how to be.”
The “Me First” Fight: It is important for a kid to understand that the world does not revolve around them, hence, it is essential to let your kids go in the last for some things. Morris tweets, “You must periodically make your kids, go last in line, take the smallest piece, give up the remote, do someone else’s chores, get their least favourite choice. They won’t like it, but they need it.” He says, “If left on their own, most kids will elevate themselves above all others.”
The Awkward Conversation Fight: Make your kids have uncomfortable conversations with you. as kids get older, the things you need to talk about with them get more difficult. Subjects like sex, dating, body image and values can all be difficult to broach. Your kids will roll their eyes and resist. You will stumble and stutter. But you must see through the awkwardness. They want your perspective, lessons learned, and wisdom. You want the pattern of open communication it establishes. Wade into uncomfortable waters with them.
The Limitation Fight: It is necessary to teach your kids to live within limitations as they make a person mature. Many problems like debt, overcommitment and exhaustion arise from ignoring our limitations and our inability to accept them. Thus, Morris suggests putting some limitations like, “Screen time limits, dietary limits, activity limits, and schedule limits. ” While these hurt your kids, it is essential for them to embrace these limitations.
(Article sourced from the Twitter feed. Views expressed are personal)