Working Together – Team Work As A Parenting Skill
by Dr. Noel Swanson..
Kids learn from example; and if you can involve your children in the household activities, you gain on several counts: they share your burden of work; they get your time and attention; and they learn to work as a team. The best parenting advice is to work together in raising your children and establishing child discipline. Children are children; and whether they are your own or your spouse’s kids from a previous relationship, it is the duty of the two people who make up their parents to work together to form their children’s discipline plan.
A common ploy of children’s behavior is to ask a parent for something, either an item or an activity. If the answer is not desirable, they turn around and go to the other parent. This can lead to issues when the parents come together and realize each gave a different answer for the activity. The parents are now faced with a serious problem.
This is why working together as parents is essential to the welfare and stability of a home and well as a valuable parenting skill. The first thing to do is to sit down and have a meeting – just the parents – and work out a system that works for you.
If necessary, equally separate the subjects that a parent will decide on. For example, one parent handles outdoor activities while the other handles indoor activities. This will prevent the child or children from being able to play one parent against the other.
Remember, children should see their parents as one unit working together in harmony. They must know that they have to seek the approval of both parents in each situation. This arrangement works very well where both parents are available.
All parents need to agree on the rules and steps to follow regardless of which method you decide to use for making decisions. Once you’ve decided, then go to your children and explain the situation.
If you as parents can work together as a team, your older children will understand the situation, and will stop future parent playing. If they are not old enough to understand, you can prevent parent playing from occurring in the first place. Working together is the foundation of good parenting.
More than just parent playing is at stake when parents need to work together. Parenting decisions aren’t just limited to going to the park or watching TV. They also include what type and kind of education? Which religion or faith a child should be brought up in? What type of child disciplinary measures should be taken? All of these questions and more need to be addressed. So that all parents are on the same page on what they want or think for their children’s behavior and child discipline needs.
Dr. Noel Swanson has a free newsletter on children’s behavior problems and also frequently writes for Yes Parenting website. Don’t reprint the same version as everyone else. Get your own unique content parenting article here.
being consistent is such an important thing. I’m experiencing this whole learning curve with my three year old. At this age, he can question and demand which makes it even more vital to be consistent in our disciplinary actions and boundaries.
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I blogged a study that showed how parents who have strong, loving relationships with each other deal with fussy babies and problems like colic better than parents who ’s relationships were less loving. It seems that observing the team work itself was calming to the babies and they cried less than parents who tried to gain the baby’s favor.
I can definitely understand that. Everyone from a baby to an adult can sense hostility or love and it will effect them.
[...] Pajama Mommy A Women and Mothers Blogger Community A Women and . – Kids learn from example; and if you can involve your children in the household activities, you gain on several counts: they share your burden of work; they get your time and attention; and they learn to work as a team. The best parenting advice is to work together in raising your children and establishing child discipline. Children are children; and whether they are your own or your spouseâ s kids from a previous relationship, it is the duty of the two people who make up their parents to work together to form their children’s discipline plan. [...]