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Parents as Influencers

I saw this insightful ad on YouTube eons ago (and again today) and it reminded me once again how powerful an influence we are — as parents — on our children.

When the kids were younger, and I was trying to figure out parenting (still am, TBH), I read many books on parenting (blog posts as well), and of course, looked to friends and family for advice. And after all that, I have come to a conclusion (for myself, at least), that there is really no universal parenting skill(s) that fits all parents. We need to develop our own unique set of parenting skills for each of our children. We can use the wonderful array of books and information available to develop a base, then observe and learn from our children’s reactions (what works best for each of them), then hone our skills using both our own and learned experiences.

And using this skillset, we can ensure that we do the best we can in our job as influencers (to our children, that is)! What life has taught me, as a child to my parents, and as a parent to my children, is that there is no age limit to parents influencing their children. What my dad did until his very last moment influenced me and continues to do so; my almost daily conversations with my mom make an impact. It does not matter that I am not that little girl anymore; I am still my parents’ child. And this applies to my own kids; I own that they are no longer the sweet little (oh yeah!) toddlers who clung to my pants or skirts, and hung on to every word I said (Well, almost)! Even now that they are teenagers who are

Some of my favorite parenting books include:

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk – one of the best parenting books – this provides lots of effective communication techniques and in comic style too – simple one-page cartoons that bring across the message to us on how to communicate. How to Behave So Your Children Will, Too! – this Screamfree Parenting: – this book got me started on reading parenting books   Another recent interesting article on parenting: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html

“Being our best for our children brings out the best in our children.”-Louise Hart  

A note about this post

I first wrote this post years ago, when my blog was totally unknown; and this post did not see anyone at all. I decided to get it from the back of the shelves, give it a dusting (ahem, rewriting and more), and place it right up front!

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