We love our kids and we want to be good providers for them. However, this shouldn’t mean that we give in to all their wishes. If your loving seems to cause attitude problems, you might want to reflect on it and correct it as soon as possible. Be the best provider and parent for your kids, but avoid doing these common habits—or you’ll pay the price of raising a bratty child.
- Tolerating Them When They’re Complaining About Authority
If you’re the parent, the aunt, the grandma or someone who has direct authority over the child, it’s understandable to be controlling sometimes. However, when your child comes to you complaining about their teacher or school rules, if you immediately act as your child’s protector and avenger before hearing the whole store, your kid will think that you will not question his or her own actions.
Before confronting the people involved, talk to your child first and let them explain in detail what happened. Be objective with your judgment and make them understand why it had to turn out that way (if that is indeed the case). This lets your child see that authorities the way they do for good reasons.
- Helping Them Too Much
Helping them to the point that they have nothing else to do to get what they need may breed lazy kids that may grow up unmotivated for success. We can’t always pour water on their glass or turn the TV on for them, because if you’re not around to do all those things, they’ll likely act out. In reality, there will be instances in life when they have no one else to depend on but themselves. The earlier you teach your child to be independent, the better, as this translates into the life they will face in the future.
- Trying to Make Them Happy All the Time
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make your kids happy, but throwing a fairytale party every birthday or always rewarding them with treats every time they lose a game with a playmate will make them think that there’s no room for sadness. Then, if something doesn’t turn out the way they want, they act out.
Allow them to feel happy and sad with their daily interactions and activities. From these experiences, they will know how to recover from getting their knee scraped from a tumble, for example, and be more appreciative of the wonderful things in life. This helps build good character, which they will carry on when they grow up.
Taking care of kids requires a lot of work, but it can be made easier. By knowing how to balance your judgment and being mindful of your acts, you can avoid misbehaviours so they turn out as good kids, and hopefully responsible adults in the future.
