An obvious trademark of good parents is that they are very open to what other responsible adults have to say about their children. This is a handy parenting tool if used in the right manner because second hand information can prove valuable to parents who are making an effort to chart and analyze the behavior of their teenage offspring. The question “How to raise good kids?” has been frequently asked by parents whenever they get a chance to meet other parents. Here are a few answers from our side. Hope you’ll find them helpful.

Reality v/s Fiction

Parents are usually very protective of their children. The fondness shown by them towards their children has the capacity to blind parents to the misadventures of their children. This attitude has the potential to make parents so stubborn that they refuse to admit that their kids are capable of doing something bad or treading the wrong line. We should realize that good kids can do bad things and bad kids can do good things; it’s all a part and parcel of growing up.

Though we might know our kids better than anyone else, this doesn’t necessarily mean that our kids would not behave in a different way than what we are used to seeing on a daily basis.

Parents are not supposed to know everything that a kid is doing but they can develop a certain idea about how their children would act or behave under different circumstances. Kids have the potential to do amazing things and you should not be in denial about this fact. Didn’t you keep certain things a secret from your parents when you were a kid? Think about it.

Keeping in view the above mentioned things, parents should make it a point to listen when others speak about their children because there are many benefits associated with this approach.

Gaining Insight from the Experience of Others

This is not very difficult to do once you get the hang of it. Listen when teachers talk about the behavior of your kids at school, listen to other parents who might have an important story from the school playground to share with you, and also learn to listen to your own conscience when someone gives you vital information about the activities of your kids.

The next important step after listening to others talk about your kids is to know how to talk to your children about the concerns that you have regarding their behavior or character.

You could be an excellent parent and have complete faith in your abilities to bring up amazing children. But this doesn’t mean that we should not pay heed about the information that we receive from other responsible adults regarding the activities of your children. Kids can learn valuable lessons from any incident, no matter how big or small it may be. Your role is to remind your kids how easily one can get caught up in the moment and hurt someone else’s feelings. Remind them that a person can completely forget to practice kindness in the heat of the moment and make mistakes that they would regret later on.

Listen and be Heard

It is your duty as parents to investigate any incident that your child may or may not be involved in because these occasions mark a great learning experience for parents. In case you hear about your child’s involvement in any mishap at school or around the neighborhood, try to respond in a civil and tactful manner. Bad responses can come back to haunt you once the problem becomes mainstream. It is equally beneficial to find out ways in which the problem could be avoided in the future and see where things went wrong so that making amends would be a bit easier for you. Other than this, keep listening so that you are aware of the daily routine of your children which would greatly help you in preventing your child from making mistakes that could shatter their entire life.

Image credit: JÅ«lija Mazhora