Everyone has a different way of raising their children, and every child is different too. So how can parents go about deciding which parenting style would be best for each individual child? Grace had a chat on this with FB Live with Kelvin and Luisa – a husband and wife team who founded Heroes Headquarters, a platform that provides awareness and developmental growth in marriage, parenting, kids, and family.
The discussion covered three key things:
1. Don’t react. Respond.
Reaction comes from a place of raw emotions. Learn to respond, which is being able to listen and think about how you need to respond.
2. Have a conversation – ask questions.
We are often too quick to provide answers. Instead we can initiate a conversation with our kids by asking them, “What do you think?”. Even if the answer is obvious to you, help them grow into creative thinkers and problem-solvers by giving them space to grow. Having a conversation helps to show them that we are invested in their emotional state. We need to remember their behaviour is often related to their emotional condition.
3. Always be “KFC”.
Kind, firm, and calm.
In a nutshell, whenever we come across situations where we feel like automatically responding to our kids’ behaviour, we need to stop and ask ourselves, “Are our actions really helpful to this particular behaviour? Can we approach this situation in a completely different manner that can have a much better outcome?”.
It’s normal to make mistakes but as long as we are aware and put effort into practising this, it will become second nature. When we can first train ourselves to retune our minds and decisions, we can then help our kids recalibrate theirs.
Watch the video below for the full conversation:
Heroes Headquarters runs regular bootcamps to improve child development and family relationships. To get in touch with Kelvin and Luisa or just to find out more, visit heroesheadquarters.com.
