The Art of Parenting You May Not Know

Parenting is an act that has been here since the beginning of time. Since so many different parenting styles have been tried & tested, we can say with fair certainty that there are few parenting hacks that are successful. Some would argue that parenting is subjective and that every child is different, and they would be right. Yet, a few pro tips that have worked through the ages won’t hurt!

What is the most important thing in parenting?

When you’re wondering what is the art of parenting is, self-control plays a very important part in mastering this. How you behave in the presence of your child has a great impact on their young minds. Most parents make the mistake of assuming that a toddler or preschooler is too young to understand ongoing situations, and so they go on to have arguments and raise their voices in the child’s presence.

Children pick up negative vibes very quickly. They might not understand what’s happening, but they feel negative emotions around them. So, what you want to do is deal with any negative emotions away from the child. At the same time, you should maintain this self-control even while dealing with the child.

When the child gets a little older and begins to understand right from wrong, the onus is on you to handle tantrums with wisdom. The personality they become in their adult lives depends on how they deal with these situations when they are young.

Involvement is the next factor you have to key in while learning the art of parenting. If you want to shape them into kind, compassionate, and generous human beings, you’ve got to start by being involved in their lives. Again, parents make the same mistake of assuming that the child doesn’t understand much at an early age, so they don’t take part as much in the child’s life.

Be as social as you can with them – talk to them every day even when they are toddlers. This will help build a bond of trust and care, they know they can rely on you as someone to turn to. And when they’re older, you don’t have to worry about them being distant because a habit of constant communication has already been built.

What are the stages of parenting?

Another important aspect while mastering the art of parenting is understanding what the different stages of parenting demand. From pregnancy right up till your child is an adult, there are  6 stages of parenting: image-making, nurturing, authoritative, interpretive, interdependent, and departure.

Each stage requires you to perform a mental shift so that your parenting approach evolves to understand and parent better.

Image-making is your pregnancy stage where you only have to take care of your health and stress level.

Nurturing requires you to be pampering and make the child feel the unconditional love of a parent.

Authoritative requires you to play the parent card more often than you’d like because here is when you have to sow the seeds of discipline.

Interpretive is the stage where the child is figuring out few things on their own but still requires you to decode many things for them.

The interdependent phase can get tricky because you have to balance the parent and friend act well if you want a healthy relationship with your child.

Finally, the last stage will be a cakewalk if you’ve gone through the previous stages. Here is where you trust that you have performed the art of parenting in the right manner. This is the time to let them head out into the world and make their own lives.

| >>> Read more: Gentle Parenting

What are the five basic rewards of parenting?

At the end of the day, parenting might seem like a tedious and unnecessary responsibility to take on and you might wonder what’s in it for you. As parents, you raise a new life. It can reap rewards that are incomparable to anything else.

Creating a human being, nurturing them, sharing in their joys and sorrows, feeling the power of unconditional love, realizing that you’re the reason for their smile, and knowing that nothing in the world can break this bond, are only five of the many rewards that you enjoy as a parent.

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