Parenting with Balance

Life is about balance. You see it everywhere, even in parenting. While walking around in public you can’t help but take notice of the people around you, how their kids behave, and how they respond. You tend to secretly judge the parents who are too busy gossiping to notice that their kids are running amuck. And alternatively, pangs of envy hit you when a family of perfect angels walks by as your child decides to throw a fit. You usually see the scales tipped one way or another.

You see some parents who opt to put their kids on leashes rather than chase them, or teach them to stay near. Then other parents struggle to push their eight-year-old in a stroller which had been outgrown years ago. Unfortunately, those situations are probably just glimpses into how these parents deal with their kids on a daily basis.

What can parents do?

Whether you’re struggling with parenting too passively, or too involved, the good news is that there’s a solution; find the middle ground. Balance, after all, is an integral part of life. Children should be encouraged to be independent, but you can’t just let them go, and you can’t hover over them either. Kids need to be given guidelines and boundaries, and to be taught right from wrong. Maybe more importantly, they need the opportunity to try things out, make mistakes, and then learn from those mistakes. As a parent, it is your job to:

A) Know that your kids aren’t getting into harmful sorts of things.

B) Support and applaud their good choices.

C) Be there when they make wrong choices and teach them why they were wrong.

In short, independent, well-adjusted kids are raised by parents who are actively involved in their lives, but who also allow them to explore life in their own way. If we do our best to raise our children to rationally think, and appropriately act on their own accord, then they actually may make this world a better place. For more tips to help your child become more independent, click here!