What Are Good Parenting Skills?

All would agree that raising children is one of the most difficult jobs in the world and where one is the least prepared.

Nothing comes close in preparing you for that little demanding creature that you bring home from the hospital, your life is changed from that day forward.

All would also agree that it is the most rewarding "jobs" at times and also one of the most frustrating at times.

When evaluating parenting skills, most experts agree how important it is in a child's development for parents to be consistent, set limitations and give positive reinforcements to the child. Their advice tells us to give the child an environment that breeds self improvement, self worth, and self esteem.

The problems lie in practicing what they teach us. It's easy to become distracted with day to day stresses and unfortunately some parents, if not all at times, tend to bring those frustrations and stresses out in the way they interact and communicate with their children.

Most of us learn our parenting skills from the way we were raised, our observations and perceptions about our own parents manifest themselves when we ourselves become the parent. Often times this can have devastating effects on our lives and the lives of our children, especially if we were brought up in less than ideal conditions.

For those parents that have had a rough childhood it can become a vicious cycle IF they don't recognize the pattern and learn basic skills to correct the situation. Patterns of abuse and neglect can be stopped if more parents had the foresight to see the pattern and took the necessary steps to stop the cycle.

Most often parents do not feel like they have anyone to talk to or that they are predetermined to act that way and nothing can help them. Fortunately more and more information about parenting skills programs are available. Resources like the Parenting Toolbox helps parents gain the necessary knowledge needed to overcome these adversities.

Medical doctors never really stop learning, that's why it's called "practicing medicine". These same principles should be applied to parenting, you should never really stop learning how to be an effective and good parent.

By Roxanne M Jenkins