SEVEN PARENTING RULES – 4

ENCOURAGEMENT

1. Encouragement to children is as important for their emotional growth as bread and jam for their physical growth. We adults choke without air and children shrink without parental encouragement. As the child grows up the most significant part of daily life is the comfort of encouragement given away by the parents.
2. Parents have to learn that encouragement has two parts when dealing with the children. The first half is how not to discourage them, not to humiliate them, and avoid the display of over- protection. This mindset tends to deactivate the child’s will to attempt anything worth or to take a risk. And hence the child remains discouraged.
3. The second half is how to be trained to encourage them. Whenever we recognize and support them to be courageous, confident and help identify his self-concept the child infers that he is recognized as independent and therefore feels encouraged.  The tone and language used and profound acceptance of who they are: sensible simple ideas to be retained by the parents.
4. Encouragement is when parents have confidence in their child that he is very competent as a person and noting that ‘I have an Idea of his self-concept and is smart enough in taking care of all the aspects of his academic activities in his own way and pace’. Moving away, parents have to start relishing this awareness without any personal tension or unnecessary concern. This presence and manner of encouragement is one potent parenting tool.
5. A child needs to be prepared and trained how to take care of himself as an individual relating to his habits and ways of learning. That is to drive him aware of his capabilities and inabilities. Parents’ role is to permit the freedom of voice and poise to examine his options. This is the essence of encouragement – an everyday process allowing the necessary opportunities for the child to discover his own self-respect, a sense of independence and self-esteem to seek and enjoy progress in all his attempts.
6. Parents’ conversations have to emphasize the fact that all the child’s efforts are towards continuous improvement in whatever he attempts but never look for perfection. Encourage them to rejoice the small steps of everyday improvement of what they are pursuing. Celebrate these small steps and let them go on to become a further source of encouragement.
7. Encouragement is an empowering melody to the children’s’ ear who are habitually forced to listen to discouraging loudness, dissenting voices every sitting hour among teachers and adults around. Children by nature are gifted to be more inventive, richly original, adorably resourceful, and gracefully cooperative if the music of encouragement is always fine-tuned to the dreams and desires involving them.