One of the greatest wishes of a parent is for their child to grow up healthy, happy and have great success in all facets of their life But raising a child is not always easy, and it can happen that many parents, in an attempt to give everything to their children, abuse overprotection and end up spoiling their children.
A happy child is not one who has a house full of toys and who is spoiled for everything, because excessive gifts can cause a child to grow up spoiled. When you love so much In this sense, the behavior of parents and their way of raising their children will affect their future personality and their well-being and happiness throughout their lives.
How to raise a happy child
Being a good father does not mean giving your child everything, including his whims, nor letting yourself be carried away by his demands and manipulation. But A good father offers his descendants an education that helps them become emotionally strong people for the future and prepared for the good and bad moments that life will throw at them.
If you are a parent and want to know what you can do so that your child grows up happy, in the following lines you will find 10 tips so that your child grows up emotionally healthy.
1. Teach him to tolerate frustration
Not everything in life is rosy. There are good moments and bad moments that we have to live To grow as people we must be able to not only enjoy the good moments that life presents us, but we must know how to deal with those situations that are not so pleasant.
Frustration tolerance is one of those skills that allow us to cope with life and that are essential to solve problems and take advantage of bad moments to grow as human beings. Developing frustration tolerance is developing resilience and the ability to overcome problems. People with low frustration tolerance are vulnerable to emotional pain, are impulsive, and have difficulty adapting to changing environments. Therefore, it is important to educate in values such as effort, being consistent and setting an example, setting limits for your children, among other behaviors that you can find in our article “How to teach your children to tolerate frustration, in 6 steps.”
2. Recognize your child’s perspective and empathize with him
Little ones also feel emotions In fact, Paul C. Holinger, professor of psychiatry at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Medical Center. Luke’s in Chicago identified nine “signals” that children use to communicate their feelings. And parents can compare the feelings of children with those of adults, leaving aside the fact that their mental development is in the initial stages.
The author argues that when a son hits a brother or throws toys it means that he is distressed and that is his way of expression. Although his reaction may seem disproportionate, recognizing the signals that our child sends us greatly helps us treat him appropriately. Empathizing with your child is key to building trust and being a good parent.
3. Communicate and listen to your child
While recognizing your child’s emotions and empathizing with them is positive for their happiness, it is also positive to communicate and listen to what they have to say Children need to feel important and loved, therefore it is good to listen to what they have and communicate appropriately in order to express trust and strengthen the bond of affection.
4. Don’t give in to tantrums
It may seem that giving in to tantrums is the best option to make our child feel good, but this is a way of reinforcing negative behaviors If we give in to tantrums, we will be letting him understand that he can get whatever he wants if he throws a tantrum or cries. Not giving everything up front can be a good alternative for our child to begin to value things.
5. Spend time with your child
Children should notice that parents feel love towards them, because the parental figure is necessary for the healthy development of a child. Spending time with your children is enriching for both parties, which increases trust between them. Read stories to your child, play with them, teach them new things, take them on excursions and have fun with them
6. Set limits
Setting limits may seem bad, but it is necessary for children to have some discipline to learn that life has limits and they cannot do what they want whenever they want, and thus be aware of what they should do and how far they can do it. arrive. It is not good to be an excessively permissive parent, because children need to have a pattern by which they guide their behavior
7. Praise their achievements
For a child to be happy, he or she must have high self-esteem and self-confidence, which allows him or her to cope with the less pleasant moments in life People usually highlight the bad moments of our children, but we should also praise those behaviors that are positive, with the intention of giving them feedback and as a way of rewarding what they do well.
8. Don’t put labels on it
Obviously, being so young, he will make many mistakes, give in to impulses and much of his behavior will be far from being exemplary; It is totally counterproductive to have an idealized vision of the child’s mind. Now, as parents, we must make constructive criticism directed towards their inappropriate actions, and not towards their identity or their “essence” as a person. Therefore, it is recommended do not label the little ones in the house ; That is, dispense with nicknames with a clear moral load (for example, “thug” or “clueless”), and not criticize them using adjectives, but rather putting emphasis on the verbs. That way they can learn from their mistakes instead of convincing themselves that they are predestined to behave in problematic ways.