As adults we might be struggling with giving up sugar and have to be reminded constantly by our trainers or doctors to go slow depending on our weight or blood sugar. In the same manner as parents we need to keep reminding our children to finish their tasks or inculcate some new behaviour depending on the feedback we get from their school or their behaviour at home.

As humans we are programmed to take the easy way out. And rather than try new foods with no sugar we might cut out old foods but not replace them with the nutritious foods. So making changes whether in food habits or any other habit takes time, practise and patience, and children are no different.

But as parents remember that you are “training” your kids to behave in a certain manner. So if you have teen kids and have to keep reminding them to wake up, get ready, check their bags every morning you have raised them in a manner for them to “expect your instructions”.  And you will realize how tiring that can be for you as a parent.

Today's video blog, we help you relearn how you can make your life easy as a parent by training your kids in a manner that they not only listen to you, finish their task and there is no need for you to repeat yourself.

Please click on the photo below to watch the video and listen to the 5 strategies:

1)   Are you taking over the task or chore for your child? So we can become impatient and instead of getting the child to do the task himself you as a parent think it’s much easier to do it yourself? Well it is easier no doubt than having to keep repeating yourself, but do think of it as a short term training for long term gain. By being a bit patient you can train your child to finish whatever needs to be done himself so that you can then avoid repeating it in the future.

2)   Give your child clear instructions. When we lose patience and are irritable we can lose sight of what needs to be done and instead go into a negative loop of whining about our child. Take charge of yourself and focus your communication so that the child knows clearly what you are expecting of him, what needs to be done.

3)   Give a time limit. When giving instructions also give him a reasonable amount of time to finish the task plus give him a time limit, a cut off time by when the task needs to be done. This will help in building time-management skills for your child too.

4)   Consequences for not following through. Your child needs to know what will be the consequence of not doing the task, not following through, not getting up on time etc. The easiest consequences are taking away play time, gadgets, outings etc. depending on what is appropriate to your household.

5)   Rewards. Encourage your child’s good behaviour, doing his tasks, following through without repetition by buying him a small gift, going out for a family dinner, a movie and rewarding him.

If you as a parent are at a loss on how to get your child to follow through and build good behaviour and habits – contact sunainaathena@gmail.com to know more about how we help you to stop being tired and exhausted, struggling to get your child to listen. We help your child develop life skills, time-management, communication, confidence etc. to achieve all round academic and personal excellence.

Warmest regards,

Sunaina

Sunaina Vohra

Youth & Family Life Coach

Athena Life Coaching
www.athenalifecoaching.com

Are you a working mother who feels you do not spend enough time on your child's development?

As mothers we tend to be hard on ourselves most of the time - our thoughts raging around how we could have spoken calmly to our child instead of raising our voice, how we could have remembered to dress him up for book day instead of letting the day slip by with him returning home teary eyed, how we could spend more time with our child instead of staying late at work.... The list of how we could be better mothers is endless and for working mothers the list is even longer accompanied with a constant chatter of guilt around less time with your child.

The grass is greener on the other side is an old adage that can aptly be used for the working mum versus the stay at home mum. Usually working mums feel that they are at a disadvantage because they have less number of hours with their child. Working mums can also be overcome with guilt for not doing enough.

Today's blog answers a problem by one such working mother who has written in sharing I feel I don't spend enough time to contribute to my child's development.

Please click on the photo below to watch the video and hear and hear how you can rid yourself of your guilt and take some positive steps to create more bonding with your child in the given time: