"Staying Positive" Guidelines

Our guest blogger today is Pam Machefsky, an Early Childhood Educator, parent educator, and mentor for new teachers for 35 years.

Welcome, readers, to the Positive Parents Place--an ideal setting for parents to learn and share. Here are some guidelines which can make Rivkie's "staying positive" techniques more effective for you and your family:

• Have goals for your children and your family. Ask yourself, "What do I/we want for my/our children?" In a two-parent family, both parents should agree on the goals and be prepared to achieve them.This requires frequent communication between parents!
• Make age-appropriate requests of your children. Do not expect your two year-old to dress himself--it's not age-appropriate. This requires some reading of child development books (if you are unsure what is appropriate) or lots of talking to friends with children!
• Make clear and concise requests of your children. Keep instructions simple, using familiar words. This requires patiently talking to your children a lot!
• Make consistent requests of your children. Do not change rules or allow your children to avoid expectations because it's easier for you. This requires a lot of determination!
• Model behavior which you want to see in your children. For example, do not forbid your children to snack in the car when you know YOU snack in the car. This requires a lot of will-power!

When followed regularly, these five guidelines can give real support to challenging moments and will provide a foundation for "staying positive." Look for more discussions about the above underlined topics, here at The Positive Parents' Place.