Nurturing a great relationship between you and your child covers a lot of ground, but we have to get the balance right. We've got to protect our children, but we've also got to serve them as well. It all begins with our home environment. What does it really take to give our children the foundations they need to thrive?
Create a Welcoming Physical Environment
The physical environment is not just about four walls and a roof. But we need to arrange our home in a way that allows us and our children easy access to each other. If you are struggling because you have an unkempt home full of clutter, decluttering is a good idea, but you may also want to think about creating a space that is separate from the chaos. There are many backyard ideas for an outdoor space your family will love and you could turn the garden into a haven of sorts. The garden should be a space for you all to play, congregate, and relax together. A relaxing physical environment will help your children to feel comfortable, especially if they don't feel comfortable in their bedroom, for example, because they are sharing it with a sibling.
Teach Your Child Through Your Actions
We need to remember that our actions will speak louder than our words. As important as it is to safeguard our children, we will fare better by setting an example. There are so many ways to set an example for our children, but the best thing to do is to stop before we do something and think if we are doing right by our children. We are all prone to making mistakes, and it's important to admit when we have made mistakes, but making a conscious effort to fix these mistakes through our actions will make a significant difference in how our children view us. One of the biggest oversights in parenting is thinking that it's our children that should learn, not us. But we are always learning, and learning how to be better parents is about understanding the example that we set by just being. Look at everything from our body language to our tone of voice, and even our personality. All of these things will have an impact on our children.
Help Your Child Express Themselves
To create an emotionally safe environment, we've got to allow our children the luxury of expressing themselves in a constructive way. Many children like to push our buttons and step out of line because this gets a reaction. But expressing themselves is about allowing them the ability to feel freedom through doing something they really enjoy. If they are naturally skilled at something, you can point them towards a sport or a hobby. But the most important thing is to help them project their feelings in a positive way. When they learn the right method to communicate their innermost thoughts or actions, it can be cathartic, especially if they are feeling that life is struggling in other areas.
But additionally, we've got to remember the expression can have its negative sides. For example, if your child has to defend themselves, it's important that we teach them to stand up for themselves in difficult situations, but about giving them the boundaries to understand what is an acceptable way to defend themselves and what is not. This is why many children go to karate classes. It's a method of self-defense, but the benefit of using a martial art in this way is to not show off your progress or skill, but actually be comfortable in your own skin that you do not need to use it. The skill is there, and it allows your children an effective outlet, while also making you feel more peace of mind in that your children are able to use the right skills to express themselves while also dealing with pressures away from your watchful eye.
Respect Your Children
This may seem simple, but it's not. We may be driven by the desire to protect our children at every turn, but this can easily snowball into the feeling that we know more, and that we know better. While most of the time we do, it doesn't give us the right to talk down to them. When we interact with our children, we have to show respect and this means that they will start to treat us with respect as well. It becomes a symbiotic relationship, rather than one where the child has to do everything we say. The benefits of this are many. It's great for their self-confidence, but it also means that they will go through life treating others with respect as well.
Use Routines
Routines are great for parents and children and because our home environment can be somewhat chaotic due to the stresses of modern life, we've got to stick to certain routines. For example, dinner times can be a very useful opportunity for the whole family to get together. When we build certain routines into our lives, this will give our children the sensation of a comfortable home environment. What we need to do is ensure that our children can come back to a comfortable home environment, especially if they are feeling stress in every other part of their lives. And routines are the best way to give our children a subconscious message that whatever happens, we will always be there.
A supportive home environment covers a lot of different components. In order to do it effectively, we've got to realize that a home environment is the best foundation for our children to grow and thrive. And this means that if we are to raise happy and healthy children, we've got to focus on the physical environment, while also making sure that during hometime, we display the right behaviors that give our children peace of mind, self-assurance, and self-confidence. When they have these in place, there is no stopping them! And isn’t this exactly what we want for our children?
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