The Three Best Parenting Tips For New Families

Welcoming a new baby into the family is a wonderful time in a parent’s life. It is amazing how something as beautiful as a new baby can actually cause you so much fear and trepidation concerning its arrival. With parenting comes worry and it often starts the moment you learn you are expecting. You can be assured that many well meaning people will offer you tons of parenting tips, but if you keep these three parenting tips in mind, and you will be able to keep some of that worry in its proper perspective.

Parenting Tip Number One: You Will Make Mistakes

Face it, there are no perfect parents. You will make mistakes and amazingly your child will survive your mistakes. There will be days when you say the wrong things and even make the wrong decisions. Understanding that you will make a few mistakes, gives you permission to relax and not worry so much about your parenting style or strategy.

Understanding that mistakes are inevitable doesn’t give you the freedom to throw safety to the wind. Holding your child in your lap instead of placing them in a car seat isn’t a mistake. It is a dangerous and illegal action that could take your child’s life. A mistake is letting your ten month old play with the remote control to your TV and then spending the next three months trying to reprogram it so you can hear your shows in English once more.

Parenting Tip Number Two: You Are First And Foremost A Parent

Sure, you want your child to like you, but the harsh reality is that you are your child’s parent, not their friend. You have the responsibility of keeping them safe and raising them to be responsible members of society. Sometimes you have to be the bad guy. It isn’t fun to be the one to say no or to let a child reap the consequences of their actions, but good parents knows that being a parent means loving your child enough to say no when you have to.

This doesn’t mean you can’t play with your children or have a relationship that is open, honest, and fun. Good parents know how to balance playing with their children without ever giving up their parental authority. Never let your child talk to you, even in play in a way that is disrespectful or rude. It makes it too confusing for a child when their parent constantly switches from friend to parent mode and back again.

There may be days when your child doesn’t like you very much, but there will come a day when they love your for raising them with the ability to know right from wrong. There may even come a day when they have kids of their own, that they actually appreciate you!

Parenting Tip Number Three: Tell Your Children You Love Them Everyday

Don’t let a day go by without telling your children that you love them. Childhood passes in an instant and the opportunity to tuck them into bed and shower them with hugs and kisses is fleeting at best. Tell your children that you love them each and every day and they will take that knowledge into their adult years.