LCYG – Youth (Page 11)

• • • • • Parenting Tip September 26, 2013 Addressing Sibling Conflict When kids fight it’s best to work with them separately because each child needs a specific plan for dealing with the other. Furthermore, trying to train them at the same time often results in resistance or even allowing kids to gang up on you, hindering the process. Here are some other ideas for addressing sibling conflict that you might find helpful. Parenting Rules for Addressing Sibling Conflict…

• • • • • Parenting Tip September 21, 2013 When Giving Instructions, Consider the Timing An important step in a good instruction routine is to consider timing. Parents who realize that a child needs an instruction must stop and think of the best way to present it. Ask yourself, “How can I communicate this problem to my child in the most effective way?” Pausing for just a moment, or in some cases, waiting a few hours, may prove to…

• • • • • Parenting Tip September 17, 2013 When Children Resist Instructions When a child continually demonstrates resistance to instructions, then it’s time to decide whether you need to emphasize relationship more or you need to discipline for a lack of responsiveness. Sometimes we take our children for granted, order them around, and don’t appreciate them enough. The result is children who tend to resist instructions. If that’s the case in your family then it’s time to show…

• • • • • Parenting Tip September 10, 2013 Teens Need Relationship Getting physically close to your child is important when giving instructions, especially with teenagers. Teens need relationship whether they’ll admit it or not. In fact, the stronger the relationship, the less likely you’ll get resistance. Sometimes young people resent having to share in the workload of running a household. You might hear them say something like, “My parents are always ordering me around. It’s like I’m their…

• • • • • Parenting Tip August 29, 2013 Giving Instructions The word “instruction” comes from the words “in” and “structure” and basically means “to put structure into.” When someone comes on the scene and gives instructions, that person brings structure to the situation and helps people know what to do. Dad or Mom sees the need to clean up around the house or get ready to go out and begins giving instructions to move the family in a…

• • • • • Parenting Tip August 23, 2013 When Kids Want to Fight When children are unhappy they look for ways to draw their parents into a fight. Kids know just where your buttons are and how to push them to make you angry. “Dad wouldn’t do it that way,” or “You never let me have fun,” might be all that’s needed to create the volcano effect. When children get angry and are looking for a fight, it’s…

• • • • • Parenting Tip August 20, 2013 The Unmotivated Child Unmotivated children are generally passive, cooperative, flexible, easygoing, and accommodating. These children may be easier to get along with because they lack the drive of strong-willed kids, but parents also struggle with these children at times. They may not have the fortitude to stand up for themselves, withstand temptation, or push hard to complete a task. They’re sometimes people-pleasers and may be easily directed in positive or…

• • • • • Parenting Tip August 14, 2013 Teaching Children to Wait Patience is a virtue but few preschoolers understand what that means. Young children want it now and resort to all kinds of attention-getting tactics to get it. Badgering is that tenacious way children ask the same question over and over again. And then there’s the whining. It can drive even the most healthy person crazy. Children need to learn how to wait for things. It’s a…

• • • • • Parenting Tip August 9, 2013 Retraining the Heart It’s amazing how transparent children can be when you take time to actively hear what they have to say. After listening for a while, it’s often possible to identify some key thinking errors that perpetuate the child’s problems. Take some time to study your children. What weaknesses do they have? What lies do they believe? What are some of the unproductive things they’re saying in their hearts?…

Parenting Insight You Can Use Now Developing internal motivation in children is one of the fast tracks to help them toward maturity. Unfortunately, too often parents use external motivators to get their kids to move forward. “If you get your homework done then you can go out and play.” “If you clean your room then you can have some computer time.” This approach basically says, “If you do what I say, I’ll give you what you want.” Children trained this…