Parenting Strategies that Connect
My wife and I have been trying lately to be more mindful and focused about how we interact and relate to our kids, both when they are behaving well and when they're not.
In this short video from Empowered To Connect, Dr. Karyn Purvis offers some helpful insight and practical strategies for dads (and moms) who are coming to similar realizations.
It’s that latter category — when my kids are acting crazy, not showing respect, not cooperating, being ugly to one another or just plain having a rotten day — where I seem to revert back to my own bad habits as a parent and sometimes wind up making an even bigger mess of things.
What I am realizing more and more is that each one of my kids comes with their own unique history. This includes an array of wonderful and amazing abilities and qualities, but also a past with no small amount of loss and hurts and, like all of us, a humanity that leads them astray. Because of this, I am coming to understand how important it is that my efforts to correct need to also leave us better and more connected as well. While the correcting changes the behavior, the connecting builds the foundation true and lasting transformation. It’s the transformation that I am really after, and that is why I am learning that my focus on connecting cannot be optional.
