Discipline plays such a crucial role in everyone’s life. So how could children remain untouched by this great virtue? If parents can manage to ingrain element of discipline in child right from the very beginning, things could be very rosy for child as he grows older. It is job of the parents to use every method in the book to instill value of discipline in child. Discipline also plays a role in getting the child behave in a way that is acceptable to others. Freedom does not mean misusing it and crossing the limits. Many a times, parents resort to punishment as a tool to direct child towards the right path. And if used properly, punishment is not really a bad thing. Parents must check whether the child is behaving accordingly. Corrective methods must be employed to discipline child if that is he call of the hour.

Parents need to ensure that they are being consistent while behaving with child. There should not any extreme measure. By extreme, we refer to extreme protectiveness or punishment. Balance must be maintained. Parents should not overindulge in strictness and punishment because that an lead to different kinds of complications. All the senior members of the family must be in sync with each other and contradictory opinions must be avoided because that can confuse child as what is exactly expected of him.

Don’t just punish child all of a sudden. Give him a warning or reminder before actually taking the stern step. Threats are rendered meaningless if follow up actions is not taken. Occasional tantrums or bedwetting should be punished. Parents should also avoid punishing kids for accidental mishaps. Just tell him to be more careful next time. Use non verbal communication for minor misdeeds. Finally, don’t take severe actions.

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Many a times parents complain of their child having a poor memory. He or she can’t remember things in the class or examination and paper remains blank. Well, that’s quite understandable considering It is a normal phenomenon. So how to improve memory? Before going into the methods, let’s talk about what is memory? Basically, memory refers to the mental capacity of retaining facts, events and impressions. Different people have different memory and some just have that extra edge over others.

One of the commonly used systems of developing memory is Mnemonics. One technique that many parents have found helpful is Acronym. It basically refers to abbreviation for a set of words. If I say ASAP, that refers to As soon as possible. Similarly a child can be made to learn different acronyms with regular practice. Parents can also rearrange the words and derive some other set of words. Apart from acronym, Acrostics is another method. In this technique, first letter of each word is taken from the words that are supposed to remembered and them a sentence is made using those letters. This is a helpful technique because it is easier to remember a sentence than a list of unrelated words.

Apart from these methods, parents can also use poems and songs, Loci or chunking. A child will be more able to remember things if it sounds rhythmic. Chunking refers to segregating long list of numbers and associating each separate part with some events. That proves very handy for kids in remembering things.

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Thinking of it, all the hype and hoopla created by media and news channels over problems of being a single dad is not justified. It is equally tough for a single mom. A single dad can do almost anything that a single mom can except for feeding. The capability of single dads emerges from their desire of giving the best to the kids. There are several such examples in our society where single dads have proved to be hugely successful in imparting right values to their wards. The ability of single dads in handling kids is always doubted but the truth is they are as capable as single moms. Even the success ration registered by single dads is very encouraging.

Single dads can do all kind of jobs from teaching, playing, advising to solving matters of life. It’s really all in the mind. Perceiving the situation as impossible to tackle is definitely not going to help but yes, taking the bull by the horns approach will prove just right. Obviously, responsibilities will be many but then life is all about handling several responsibilities at different juncture of your life. It is also a great way to show the world your inherent capabilities.

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One of the common problems faced by parents is non-respect shown by kids to their possessions. I think, many of you must have few things to share about in this matter. Remember, giving a toy or drawing tool or wrist watch or cricket bat or things like that to your child and he or she missing, breaking or forgetting it after few days. Many parents don’t give this fact a thought and take it as a normal behavioral pattern by kids but that’s not the right approach. Its parents’ job to instill the element of respect in child for his possessions. Don’t just resign to this fact that a child is supposed to spoil things.

Some parents react in a different way. They lose temper and threaten children with unfavorable consequences in case they misplace their belongings. The other normal reaction is giving lectures to the child for his mistakes. Well, we cannot really expect kids to be responsible from the very beginning but at the same time this is one trait we can instill in them as they grow older. Don’t begin this process in teenage. Rather, go for it at a very young age.

In today’s times, instilling the value of possessions and money has acquired greater significance. The spending power has increased and children are prone to demanding new things. But parents must be very careful in dealing with such situations. The process of his value addition should be started early. But make sure not to expect quick fire results initially. Any process takes time. A kid must go through the learning process and with the passage of time they will be able to improve upon their profligacy. Also try to present your own example by behaving in a desirable way.

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Above mentioned points do indicate the need of fun and relaxation in parent-child relationship. A little effort ever now and then and parents are most likely to have a wonderful experience at home. Start with leaving your stress at the doorsteps of your house. Don’t bring your problems in your living room. Can you remember those days when just a look at your child’s face and you used to forget all the worries of the world? Yes, things are still the same and nothing really has changed.

Try establishing better bonds with your child. You can always be the best friend of your ward. Indulge yourself in regular family fun night and you will be pleasantly surprised to find the rapidly reducing gap with your kid. Make sure to cheer and congratulate the child when going gets tough for them. Nothing like getting a high-five from your parents! Similarly, when they achieve something, make a point to celebrate with them. Finally, relish the status of being a parent. It is one of the biggest blessings of life. All these things will go a long way in building positive parenting habits.

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Dyslexia refers to learning problems. They are of different types. The disorder is either inborn or acquired later on. You can imagine dyslexic kids like a closed box which has a lot of things kept inside but he is unable to express it and unable to comprehend the world outside him.

Dyslexic kids face problems in writing, reading, games, spelling and numbers. The neurological condition makes it difficult for the child to acquire language skills. These kids may have good oral skills which makes it difficult for parents to identify the problem of dyslexia.

Dyslexia is not related to home environment or the intellect. Usually, dyslexics have average to above average IQ. Some of the other known causes are oxygen deprivation or head injuries during birth. Certain medications may also lead to dyslexia. Brains of dyslexics are structurally different from brains of others usual human beings. The information processing system also follows a different system.

Dyslexic kids cannot differentiate between letters such as ‘b’ and‘d’, ‘p’ and ‘q’. They have problems in differentiating between similar sounding words. A lack of strong preference for either right-handedness or left-handedness is also seen in these kids.

During early years, these children are very slow in picking up their learning. Later, in school years, they have difficulty in reading and spelling. These children often face low self esteem. They tend to get nervous, anxious, frightful or aggressive at times. There are many counseling centers that help dyslexic children.

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Ever planted a tree? Right from sowing the seed, giving it water, nurturing it, seeing the first leaf, the flower, the fruit…the joy is incredible. As parents this is what you will experience when you see your child grow.

Here is a wonderful extract from The Prophet by Khalil Gibran:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward not tarries with yesterday…

This passage tells a lot about parenting and since this is an art, I won’t say that there are strict Dos and Don’ts. Every parent will paint a different picture. However, there are guidelines which will help every parent to see and bring out the best in their kids.  

You don’t really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around – and why his parents will always wave back.  ~William D. Tammeus.

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Good parenting is also a skill, which needs to be sharpened through exercises. It is incorrect to say, parenting cannot be learned, it is to come from within. It’s wrong, totally illogical. If that is the truth, then one with high IQ must not go to school to improve their intelligences. Like any other professional hard and soft skills, good parenting is also needs to be learned from experiences and others’ examples.

To become a good parent, you have to appear for live tests consistently and continuously. Even if you fail in some of them, you must not become rouge or demoralized. It’s itself is a test and you have to face them without any special consideration. Never fix a target for your kids for which you all may need to wait years together. You must focus towards achieving goal shortly and in the process, you will definitely win the race! Act on the present; don’t spoil future thinking past or possible future strategies.

You may find thousands of tips on how to become a good parent; but all are not necessarily to be followed. Your most important focused priority should be to help your kids developing excellent personality coupled with unlimited self-confidence, willingness towards absorbing any given task without considering consequences and awareness for keeping health well. If you consider yourself well capable to address these issues, you are already a good parent.

In majority of the cases, our kids develop weak confidence starting from the days when they start listening old stories highlighting triumphs of ghosts or similar evil creatures. Listen me, never expose your kids to such fearful stories just to stop their cries or to make them sleep early. This is the most dangerous aspect where majority of our parents fail towards becoming an ideal parent. Allow your children grow naturally, do not impose military disciplines from the age of five! Try to provide items whatever they ask for; remember, they will ask things that you will be able to provide them. Check my wording! Once back from school, inspect their schoolbags, you may get some lead to correct them in time.

Going out together, at least once in a month, is mandatory to rejuvenate the bonds that you have with your kids. Always try to have meals together in a fixed time schedule. Eating and sleeping maintaining strict time schedule is mandatory for a better health. If you able to provide timely food and rest to your body, you will never report sick, and thus you can ensure discharging well the tasks of good parenting.

I have discussed the issue of good parenting with some of my good friends who have proved excellently in their good parenting. Logics and counter logics with ample life-examples were presented there. Two most important lessons that I learned that day are I will never allow my grandchildren sleeping alone until they attain the age of 18 and I will not hesitate them giving quality tuitions for their studies! Both seem to be opposite to your traditional myth, but that’s the mythical way of making great children!

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Parenting begin with identification about your child’s personality, the child’s positive traits and the child negative traits so that you can find out ways to bring out their positive traits and show them how to handle their negative one. Let’s take an example here. If your child did something very intelligent, creative or something that really touched your heart, the first thing to do, is to appreciate it.

By doing this you are teaching your child what good behavior is and you are telling them that they are doing something which is expected out of them. On the other hand, if your child throws a tantrum, you need to make them understand that what they are doing is wrong, but not without losing heart or your patience. In such situations instead of shouting back at the child, you should leave the room and have a strong talk with you child, after he or she has cooled down.

One area where parents find difficult is being able to say no to their child, when they cry for things like toys, ice-creams and other forms of indulgence. You need to say ‘no’ to make them aware that they should not ask for such things all the time, but a stern ‘no’, without scolding is required, even if the child is persistently crying.

One of the best ways to bring out a child’s better side is to make them do creative things such as learning craft, singing, playing piano, coloring and so on. Such activities give them positive energy and concentration and they do well in school too. Children grow based on the level of importance that you give them. In today’s world parents have hectic schedules, but at the same time they should make way to spend quality time with your child.
You are your child’ role model and your child will learn from your every move.

Children with behavioural problem or children who have difficulty socializing with others or children have too many complexes, have such issues because they don’t get enough attention, affection and guidance from their parents. If you set an example for your child through the way in which you handle yourself, your problems and the things around you, you child will follow suit.

The result of good parenting is a child who grows up to be a responsible adult. This can happen only when a child is taught to take on responsibilities, in a causal way. For example, praising you child when he or she clean up their room or asking them to come shopping with you or help you dry the dishes, are all ways by which they are made to feel valuable because they are helping out and doing the right thing. As they grow, such responsible tendencies will come automatically from them.

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