14 Good Habits Every Parent Must Teach Their Child | Parenting Tips

I have seen most of the people complaining that their children are very mischievous, they have become spoilt, they do not listen to them and they go on and on. But if you want to get results first you need to understand the problem. I have listed down 14 mandatory methods that will not only help you in understanding the behavior and mindset of children but it will totally transform the life of your children.

1. Become an ideal role model for them.
(THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT HABIT)
Children will always spend their maximum time with their parents especially in their formative years. We cannot even imagine how quickly they pick up the behavior of their parents and make it a part of their daily life. If the parents watch more television, the kids will also get addicted to it. I can give you a very good example of that. The lady opposite our house spends most of her time sitting in the swing in her balcony. She does not watch television and never read books. She even cuts her vegetables on the swing because she is totally in control of it. When she had a baby, she held him in her lap and would swing from one side to another and when his kid became capable to sit, she made him sit beside her. Surprisingly after just few a months, her kid became addicted to the swing and she arranged for another swing in her house. His kid even reads books on the swing now and somehow manages to adjust his vision according to the pace of the swing.

Children of the modern age are very intelligent. But at the same time, they are copy cats and would pick up each and every little action of their parents. So make sure that you develop proper habits so that your children do not get trapped into the bad ones’. Become an ideal role model for your children. Whenever you do anything in front of your children, keep in mind that your child, sooner or later, is going to do the same things. Do not use abusive language or talk about things like alcohol or cigarette in front of your children.

Even if you have wine or cigarette secretly, still there is a good chance that your children will somehow find these things because they have got great observation powers.

2. Explain to them your expectations.
The boss always explains to the new joining employee about his expectations. Children are too small, but regular guidance needs to be given to them. You should be very specific in giving them instructions regarding this. If your child asks you for a new toy, you should tell him that, “I will buy you a toy but my expectation is that you will only play in the evening after completing your homework!”. “You are going to your uncle’s house but make sure you do not make noise and behave properly!” You need to bring the wavelength of your child’s thinking as closely to that of yours. It will put positive pressure on your children and they will gradually begin to act as per your expectation.

3. Create a proper routine.
A discussion needs to be done about the time for each activity that takes place throughout the day in your house. Things like Getting Up, having breakfast, having lunch and dinner, and going to bed should be decided and followed strictly. Children should be told that they need to play at a specific time for a specific duration. Following a routine will gradually bring the most important quality of discipline in the children. But for this, the parents need to create a proper routine and then follow it themselves otherwise the children will never be able to implement it.

4. Keep track of their friend circle.
It is very important to keep track of your child’s friends in the neighborhood as well as in their school. Make sure that their friends have good qualities and are cultured. A great researcher said, “You are an average of the five people with whom you spend most of your time”. If the friends of your children are not well mannered and do offensive things, your children will gradually pick up such habits. If their friends watch bad movies or consume drugs, your children will pick up these habits without your notice.

5. Take care of their diet and their water consumption.
Diet plays an integral part, not just for good physical health but it also nourishes the mental health of children. We discussed that we need to decide upon proper time for diet for the whole day. But we also have to decide on the kind of food we will have during the day. A fresh, hygienic, and balanced diet will keep your children lively and energetic for the whole day. Tell them to drink more water. Children sometimes ignore the amount of water they take. So parents need to check at regular intervals if they are taking enough water.

Without a proper diet and enough water, children will develop dizziness and will lose control over their habits.

6. Make sure that they do enough Physical Exercise.
With the advent of advanced technology, the amount of time children spend on physical exercise and games has come down considerably. Make your children workout and make them do yoga or pranayama. If they are not doing a workout, make arrangements for them for swimming or get them admission into a nearby games club where football or badminton is played. The only criteria for this is they should sweat a little and only then their exercise can be declared as COMPLETED.

We discussed developing a proper routine in the beginning, so even for exercise, the proper time has to be decided.

7. Leverage the gifts of your child.
Observe the activities and behavior of your child very closely. Make a note about things which he enjoys most and things which he does not. If you start your television and some music is played, does you, child, starts to dance? Then you need to think about how you can make sure that he gets involved in dancing more. If you find that your child loves crafting, find some ways where he can get more opportunities for this. If you are not able to figure out anything, then you can ask him and also give him some options. If he is too small, design methods to provide him a temporary environment at your home, later on, arrange for some teacher.

8. Develop the habit of reading books.
There is a good community of youngsters and adults who read books but children will never open a book apart from their school books. Try to ingrain the habit of reading books in them because a good book has a wealth of knowledge. Decide upon some time every day, where you sit on the floor and have a book in your hand and also give him some colorful book and tell him to flip a few pages. When the kid watches you, he will also develop the habit of reading books. This is a magical habit where he will get access to a wonderful, less explored world.

9. Make them sit still for a few minutes every day.
It is not possible to tell children to do meditation at such a young age. But try to make them sit in one place for a few minutes every day. You can experiment by starting some music in the background and tell your children to focus on that. This is a very important mechanism that will help children to develop higher concentration powers.

10. Don’t do negative chatter around him.
“I am tired of this!” “My life has become hell!” “My boss is an ….” Never use such language in front of your children because they can visualize each and every word you are saying. They are little scientists and researchers. When you are talking with your spouse be careful in your language because the little scientist is ready to swallow each and every word of yours.

Never say negative things about your children to your spouse when they are around you. Never say, “My son is so mischievous” or “I am fed up of him!” This will have a very bad effect on the minds of your kids.

11. Don’t pamper them.
If your son has come home after a picnic, don’t make him a HERO. Don’t embrace him and with tears in your eyes and say, “I missed you so much!” You also did such things when you were kids but your parents did not react in such a manner, that is why you are so strong. If you give so much love and get attached to your children, this will make them mentally weak and they will be scared to take difficult decisions. Give them independence and let them live their own life.

12. Give them time.
No matter how many gifts you buy for your children, the biggest gift you can give to your children is your TIME. Children are hungry to spend time with their parents and they are all the more hungry when they are little kids. If you don’t give them time when they are growing, there will be a thinking gap between you and your children and it will never be compensated. Make sure you are around your children when they are beginning to understand things and their brains are getting developed. These images will always be stored in their brain for the rest of life.

13. Become the best friend of your child.
Nobody likes people who continuously give instructions and advice. People love discussions but not orders. When you spend time with your child, become a child. Play games with your child. Lose a few games and win a few and pretend as if you are very upset if he wins. Give him sensible options, listen to what they are trying to say, then take decisions.

14. Give them proper rewards.
Everybody has got a craving for a reward. We do a job because we have a craving to get money, people go to a restaurant because they have got a craving for food. Motivate your children and give them a little benchmark and explain to them that if they do certain things regularly for the whole week, they will get a small reward. But keep on changing the reward, so they do not become addicted to it.

My little kid is very mischievous and jumps from one place to another. I tell him that if you sit in one place for 5 minutes every day, I will buy you your favorite ice cream at the end of the week and I got a wonderful result out of that.