Good Parenting

It is so easy to loose your cool when your child is misbehaving, or having a tantrum, or is loosing control in some way. If your child is yelling at you, you want to yell back.  This is a mistake. Your child will just learn that it is O.K. to yell when things go wrong. In order to teach your child to remain calm, you must remain calm yourself. As a parent you can choose what you are going to do and what you are going to say so that the child learns by words and example that it is possible to be calm when things go wrong, when he is disappointed, upset, or angry. Here are some tips to help parents stay calm and in control.

1. Look at your child and observe how young he/she is and think about how much he/she has yet to learn.   Use your imagination and picture your child asleep in bed.  Think about how young and innocent your child looks.  Remember the good times, the times when you were very proud of your child. 
2. Take some deep breaths.  Breath in and out through your nose and make your abdomen expand and contract.   Do this a few times.  Your child can wait.  She can continue the tantrum without you.  It’s O.K.  Give yourself time to think.   You don’t have to respond straight away.  Think about what is good for the child.  What does your child need from you.
3. Relax your muscles, your neck and your shoulders.  Let the noise your child might be making flow over you so that you are not giving it any importance.  It has no power over you.   You have the power and you are going to decide what needs to be done.   It is always best to chose what you are going to do than to react.   Often our reactions leave much to be desired, so  Relax and Decide.

Remember Calm Parents help children to be calm.