Tag Archives: parenting style

Things to Know About Attachment Parenting

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Do you practice attachment parenting? This type of parenting has become somewhat controversial. Those that practice it seem happy with it. Those that don’t often choose to share their opinion that this parenting style will somehow harm children (years later). Ultimately, it is up to each parent to decide what parenting style works best for them and their kids. Attachment Parenting is a parenting style that has eight principles to it. Each parent has a lot of leeway in how they interpret those principles and how they put them into action. Prepare for pregnancy, birth, and parenting – Parents remove … Continue reading →

Positive Parenting Might be your Style

Parents today have a plethora of parenting styles to choose from. Have you figured out what your parenting style is yet? If not, then perhaps Positive Parenting might be your style. Positive Parenting is a style that is intended to lessen stress and form healthier relationships between parents and their children. It is not an authoritarian parenting style. Other phrases that have been used to describe Positive Parenting include: positive discipline, gentle guidance, or loving guidance. Physical punishment, such as spanking, is absolutely not a part of Positive Parenting. It isn’t about “teaching your child a lesson”. Instead, this parenting … Continue reading →

Be a Better Parent in the New Year

What’s your New Years Resolution? Many people choose something related to weight loss, or money, or productivity. This year, why not pick a resolution that will be much more meaningful? Resolve to take steps to be a better parent in the new year. Parenting can be as rewarding as it is difficult. It is easy to see why parents often make mistakes. Everyone does it – nobody is perfect! Ideally, people learn from those mistakes so they do not repeat them. What I’m trying to say is that parenting is a skill that can always be improved upon. It is … Continue reading →

Tiger Mother Parenting Can Lead to Problems

What’s your parenting style? Many parents use the same parenting style that they were raised in. It is comfortable, familiar, and fits their cultural background. Parents also strive to raise their children in a way that will teach them to become successful, self-sufficient, adults. Sometimes, it turns out that a particular parenting style is not as advantageous as people might assume. A study found that the “Tiger Mother” type of parenting is not helpful (and might do more harm than good). What is a “Tiger Mother”? The Macmillian Dictionary defines it as: a very strict mother who makes her children … Continue reading →

Piecing Together Your Parenting Style from Various Influences

There is a great deal of talk about parenting styles—parents are expected to figure out whether they are an authoritative or permissive parent and to fit themselves into a definition or box that defines the way they interact with their children. For many of us, however, we are a little of this and a little of that. As complex human beings who have evolving values and ideas about things—we may change and morph and our parenting style may actually be an eclectic collection from all sorts of different influences. It may seem sort of radical—but our parenting style CAN and … Continue reading →

Letting Go of Images and Expectations

One of my favorite friends has a saying she uses when people start getting caught up in reviewing all the “shoulds” and “coulds” in their lives. She will say, “You’re just going to have to let that go.” It’s a great reminder that we really can immobilize ourselves with outside expectations and media or “traditional” images and spend all our time beating ourselves up. For the single parent, those external images and expectations are everywhere and if we are to be happy and effective, not to mention enjoy parenting and our families, “we’re going to have to let all that … Continue reading →

What if You Were Being Graded or Evaluated on Your Parenting?

I know that I have written before about trusting our instincts and trying to let other people’s opinions get to us when it comes to relaxing and doing what we think is best as parents. We do need to try to get away from worrying what other people think. But, I also think that sometimes it helps to think about what sort of “grade” we might get if we were evaluated on our parenting when we think that no one is looking… You’ve probably heard it before, it’s not what we do when we’re in public or on display that … Continue reading →

Discipline vs Punishment

Here’s a quick one question pop quiz. What’s the difference between punishment and discipline? According to Dr. Ed Wemberly, author of A Parent’s Guide to Raising Great Kids, although the two words are often used interchangeably they are not the same. Discipline is the practice of making someone obey rules, while punishment is the consequences of not following established rules. The differences may be subtle but they are still significant and must be considered if we want to be the kind of parent our kids need us to be. What type of parent are you? Are you a discipline-based parent? … Continue reading →

Nurturing Your Child’s Temperament

In a study, beginning in the late 1950’s, conducted by Doctors Thomas and Chess they found that “children show distinct individuality in temperament in the first weeks of life, independently of their parents’ handling or personality style.” Today child psychologist Jerome Kagan finds that “the child’s own temperamental predispositions are the major determining factors in the kind of person he becomes later in life. Whether children are independent or timid, sociable or shy, easygoing or easily depressed, he says, depends primarily on their inborn traits.” Knowing your child’s temperament traits can help you as a parent understand how your child … Continue reading →