4 things parents should stop doing
The methods of education differ not only in different cultures, but also in different families. However, parents still often use behaviors that, according to psychologists and educators, are outdated, inappropriate, or even dangerous for children. Consider a few habits that parents should discard.
1. Not enough time to sleep
Very often, parents in the daily routine of the child do not allocate enough time to sleep. There can be various reasons for this: parents may not attach much importance to the child’s sleep or overload him with various activities. One way or another, children do not get the necessary rest. Reducing sleep time, contrary to parental stereotypes, does not discipline the child and does not make him more flexible. Lack of sleep negatively affects the behavior of the child, suppresses mental functions and over time can lead to overweight. Experts recommend sleeping 8.5 hours a day for teens and 11-12 hours for children from 5 to 12 years. This means that if a 15-year-old needs to wake up at 7 a.m. to go to school, he should go to bed no later than 10.30 p.m., and a 10-year-old child – at 8 p.m.
Hint: when making a child’s daily routine, consider the time to get to and from school, rest time, time to complete homework and homework, extracurricular activities, etc. If you see any of these classes take time to sleep, you should review the daily routine of the child.
2. Dining Out
When a family often eats food outside the home, this makes it difficult to strengthen family ties and establish healthy eating habits. As a result, problems such as being overweight can occur. In a cafe, and especially in fast-food establishments, there are many distractions that prevent family members from communicating normally.
Food is primarily intended to saturate the body with nutrients. However, the dishes from the cafe do not always meet this requirement. Compared to her, homemade food is much healthier.
Hint: a pre-cooked dinner will help to avoid a situation where parents are late at work, and because of this, the whole family dines in the cafe. Plan ahead cooking. At the weekend, buy the products that you will need during the week – so you save time on cooking. Freeze cooked foods so that they stay fresh longer.
3. Homework for the child
Unlike other cases where parents may feel guilty, doing homework for the child gives them the illusion that they are doing this for the good of the child. When parents do homework for the child, they deprive him of the opportunity to learn the necessary educational information and develop important skills. In addition, teachers see the difference between the quality of the child’s work at school and at home, and this creates embarrassing situations. Such behavior makes it clear to the child that the parents do not believe in his abilities, and also develops laziness in him and leads to the fact that the child begins to evade his school duties. Therefore, parents should not interfere in the child’s homework process.
Hint: before the child starts to do a difficult homework, briefly explain to him the task so that he has an idea about the solution. Then let the child complete the assignment on their own. If, while checking the assignment, you find a mistake, ask your child questions that may help him find and correct it, and do not give him specific instructions. In cases where the child is really not able to complete the task, still do not do the work for him. Instead, discuss the situation with the teacher to find out the reasons for this discrepancy between the difficulty of the assignment and the child’s abilities.
4. Physical punishment
Many parents can afford to slap a child slightly, but such parenting methods have more disadvantages than advantages. Yes, a slap of parents can discipline a child for a while, but in the long run, physical punishment will harm him. The refusal of parents from physical punishment does not mean that from this moment everything is allowed to the child – this means that parents will not hurt the child, even for the purpose of education. According to statistics, children to whom parents use physical punishment are more prone to depression and offenses in the future. They move away from their parents and adopt a violent model of behavior in solving problems from them.
Hint: explain to your child your expectations of his behavior. Make sure the children understand which behavior is normal and which is unacceptable. Then establish the consequences for misconduct (but they should not include physical penalties). However, to discipline a child, the consequences alone are not enough: maintain an emotional connection with the child.
