There are many ways that can help make you a good parent. We give up many things in our life to do so. This is just one of those things you can do to help be the parent your child needs you to be. Stay attuned with your child.
you are lining up your feelings and thoughts with hers. Much of this takes place without words, and is accomplished through gaze and touch. Think of comforting a crying baby or small child: You pick her up, look into her eyes, and the child internalizes that attunement, and begins to make sense of her feelings and the emotional world. Children who grow up with mothers who scream at them to stop crying learn something else entirely. Put into a sentence, lack of attunement says this: “ Your feelings don’t matter. And neither do you.”
Staying attuned as your child begins to grow out of early childhood requires more effort—getting you and all the emotional baggage you have in tow out of the way so you can actually listen to and hear the other person standing in front of you. You have to be able to be aware of and in touch with your own feelings so that you can push them aside and get in touch with your daughter’s thoughts and feelings. This is, I know, easier than said than done.
I would love it if my readers sent me some other wonderful advice on parenting. I thought it would be a great idea for a guest blog. If you are interested please email me at [email protected]
