Confident Parenting

A confident parent makes for a happier child as he knows where he stands and feels safe knowing you are in charge. Children behave the way their parents parenting attitudes are. Confident parenting is believing in your own worth and ability which is for you and for your child. The child’s psychology is affected a lot by the way you feel about yourself. Confident parenting also means having clear, fair and flexible discipline at home.

The problem is that the responsibility of raising a child can be so overwhelming at times that you may start to have doubts about the way you manage your child, you might worry about your relationship with him and you may start to think that you are not as good a parent as you would like to be. Remember, though, that confident parenting doesn’t mean being right all the time. Listening to your child is important, too. You are not infallible. Sometimes children are able to offer their parents good suggestions about how disagreements can be resolved together.

Every parent has moments of self-doubt which is perfectly normal. But when these moments become longer and longer periods of time, dominating your day from start to finish, then you need to take a more optimistic approach. Remind yourself that every parent has times when they are uncertain about their skills. Nobody progresses along the road of parenthood convinced that they are perfect parents.

There is nothing wrong in acknowledging that you are human, that you have weaknesses as well as strengths and that being a parent can be very hard work at times. Every parent experiences these feelings and you have nothing to feel guilty about. True, there will be some aspect of caring for your child that you could have carried out more effectively, but he won’t even have noticed. As a parent, every single day is full of decisions that have to be made, packed with judgments about what to do best for your child. Sometimes you will make a good decision and at other times you will wish you had taken a different approach. But in most instances these are minor matters that have no long-term negative impact on your child’s development.

Talk to your partner, family member or friend. A word of reassurance from them may be just what you need to feel more confident about yourself. And be prepared to listen to any praise offered to you. It’s amazing how a positive comment from someone can significantly boost your self-esteem as a parent. Focus on your strengths as one of the effects of low self-confidence is that you start to interpret all your behavior negatively. You can break this cycle, however, by forcing yourself to identify your strengths, such as the way you comforted him the last time he was upset. Try to spend more time thinking about your strengths and achievements as a parent rather than on your perceived weaknesses. Accept help from family and friends with open arms when they are given to you. You will feel refreshed and stronger, even after a break that lasts only half an hour, and you will find that your self-confidence has improved too.