Respectful child rearing: 6 tips for parents.

Tips for raising and guiding your children through respectful parenting.

As parents, one of the most difficult things to achieve when raising young children is to know how to set limits for them; to make them learn to adapt their behavior to certain rules, for their own good and for the good of others.

This is why we sometimes fall into the trap of short-termism, either by indulging them in whatever they ask for in order to prevent tantrums or by restricting their movements almost totally. Neither of these two apparent solutions is adequate for children to develop healthy ways of interacting with the environment and with others.

In this article we will look at some tips for apply a respectful upbringing of children to their daily life in the familyIn this article we will look at some tips for applying respectful parenting to everyday family life, so that they incorporate consistent behavioral norms into their habits.

Tips for applying respectful parenting with your children.

These are some basic tips that you can add to your parenting strategies to educate your children and relate to them from respect and empathy, setting limits but without constantly falling into confrontation.

1. Explain what is right and what is wrong

Even though they are small children, they need to understand why the rules they must follow, and if you do this by adapt your explanations to the type of concepts with which they are familiar, they will not have trouble understanding.they will have no trouble understanding.

Just because they are very young does not mean that they should operate from ignorance, on the contrary: if there is something they do not know, like everyone else, they tend to invent possible explanations, so you had better help them not to stray too far from reality.

2. Focus on encouraging appropriate behavior

Instead of focusing your attention on preventing children from behaving inappropriately, take the opposite approach. That is; do what you can to get them to start behaving in the right way.. This simple change of mindset will go a long way in helping you to be consistent in developing respectful parenting.

3. Highlight their progress

When you see your son or daughter taking steps in the right direction, it's important to let him or her know that he or she is doing well, and to do it in the moment, without waiting too long. That way it will be easier for him or her to link that satisfying feeling to the behavior he or she has just performed..

4. Teach him the importance of repairing the damage.

Another aspect of respectful parenting is that it doesn't just stop bad behavior with punishment, but takes a much more constructive, win-win approach.

If a child does something wrong, the logic to be adopted is that he or she should repair the damage caused to others.. In this way, not only are others compensated, but the child is offered a way to redeem himself that makes him feel good about himself, instead of adopting the role of passive recipient of a penalty: he participates in the solution.

5. Spend time together

This is another aspect of respectful parenting often overlooked. Spending time together is not only essential for bonding, with all that it entails, but it is also important for children to be able to develop an emotional bond.It is also important so that the moments in which you establish rules are not seen by the child as the only meaningful interactions you have with him/her, which favors a hostile climate and a rejection of those rules of behavior.

6. Set an example

On the other hand, set an example as much as you can, because the importance of rules is expressed through actions, not just words. Also, if he believes that a rule is only set for him, the child will feel that he is suffering an injustice, so he may reject almost all rules in general.He may therefore reject almost all rules in general.

When you do not follow the same rules as the child because of the age difference (for example, when it comes to going out in the street without anyone else), make sure that the child understands this.

Professional assistance for parents

It is often necessary to have professional help to establish the right parenting dynamics: it is not always easy to find the balance between setting rules and allowing them the freedom to have fun and develop their own autonomy. That is why, many of us psychologists are trained to help families in this respect. both through counseling or therapy to parents and through child and adolescent therapy.

At Instituto de Psicologia Psicodea psychological assistance center located in Madrid, we have been offering this kind of services for more than a decade. You can count on us for both face-to-face and online therapy. You will find more information about our center on this page.

Bibliographical references:

• Cantero, M.P. (2011). History and Concepts of Developmental Psychology. Psychology of Human Development. University Club.
• Cromdal, J. (2009). Childhood and social interaction in everyday life: Introduction to the special issue. Journal of Pragmatics. 41 (8): 1473 - 1476.
• Palacios, J.; Marchesi, A. and Coll, C. (1999). Psychological Development and Education, Vol. 1: Developmental Psychology. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.
• Shaffer, D. R. and Kipp, K. (2007). Developmental Psychology. Infancia y adolescencia (7th. Ed.). Mexico: Thompson.