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Working Together - Team Work As A Parenting Skill |
By:
Dr. Noel Swanson.. |
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Working together - Team Work as a Parenting Skill
by Dr. Noel Swanson..
The most effective parenting skill in establishing child discipline is working together. It is effective in dealing with behavior problems of children of all age groups and children of your own or your spouse's from a previous relationship. Biological or foster parents can benefit from this skill of team work.
Children are experts in manipulating situations to their advantage. They know that if they can't get something from one parent, they can always turn to the other. This not only creates unnecessary misunderstanding between the parents but also teaches the children to be opportunists. They get wrong ideas and learn to use unfair means to get their way. This can be avoided through team work.
It is very important for parents to work together for the welfare and stability of a home. Working together is a valuable parenting skill that parents must learn and practice. The first thing you as parents should do is to sit down and have a meeting, and work out a system that works for you.
An even more practical plan is to divide the activities on the basis of preference. For instance, one parent can handle outdoor activities while the other can handle indoor activities. This will prevent the children from being able to play one parent against the other.
Another option to head off child behavior problems is that each situation requires the approval of both parents in order for an answer to be given. This often works but can be a bit troublesome when one parent is not available.
No matter which method you decide to use for making decisions, all parents need to agree on the rules and steps to follow. Once you've decided, then go to your children and explain the situation.
Letting your children know that you work together as a team is important. If they are old enough to understand the situation, it will work to deter future parent playing. If they are not old enough to understand, establishing this routine and foundation of parenting will prevent parent playing from occurring.
Apart from establishing child behavior, parents need to work together to take crucial decisions like schooling and education of the children, faith and religion that they will follow and other important matters. Both parents should be in agreement about how to bring up their children. However, agreeing to disagree is also a part of team work, as long as parents can be cordial and pleasant about it. The important thing is that children should feel that parents work as a team. You can iron out your differences alone but must present a picture of working together to the children.
Dr. Noel Swanson has a free newsletter with expert parenting advice and also writes regularly for Yes Parenting website. Click here to get your own unique version of this article.
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Article Source: http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article53800.html |
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