I have often wondered how some parents get it right and others fail woefully. Teaching kids to be polite and well mannered is not a function for the minder or the school teachers. Parents have a big role to play; Yes! In the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, moms and dads may not always have the time to focus on teaching their kids proper etiquette, yet we often wonder why some children are so polite.
Parents are often worried about the corrupting effects of bad companions on their kids. When you find your son’s best friend spitting sassy retorts at his mom when she tries to correct him or your daughter’s girlfriends expanding their vocabularies with words that are not SAT approved. You just want to separate them from these contagious behaviours.
Sometimes, taking care of toddlers can be very exhausting. Many toddlers are famous for their high energy levels and oftentimes, parents find themselves wondering how to contain these hyperactive toddlers. You may ask yourself why other kids sit and wait patiently, and yours just can’t stop skirting around. As a parent, there will always be that natural urge to hold them down and keep them out of harm’s way; experienced mothers say: “Don’t try to contain him; just keep him safe and conserve your energy”.
Sometimes, talking to children may seem like a herculean task, you could find yourself at a family dinner surrounded by your little nieces and nephews, and you do not know how to start a conversation, or you may start up a conversation and you get the monosyllabic words everyone dreads, and you spend the entire evening, staring awkwardly at each other and waiting for the dinner to end. Then you go home with the popular phrase, “I’m not good with kids”.
By Boma Benjy – Iwuoha
Every parent wants a smart, bright and intelligent child. This desire sees us spending so much time and resources trying to find the best schools, teachers and learning environments for our kids. We sometimes forget that as parents, we have an important role to play, and the power to enhance our children’s learning potential by making books an integral part of their lives.
