Monday is Parenting Affirmation Day! 5-14-2012
It’s Monday, May 14th- Parent Affirmation day at Help 4 Your Family! Today’s affirmation is one I use a lot:
I give my children age appropriate time and space to solve their own problems.
This affirmation is good for many kinds of situations. One is watching our children struggle with something. This affirmation helps us to remember that there are some struggles that are age appropriate and that our children will benefit from resolving on their own because they want to learn it. Rebecca from Mom Meets Blog writes about this in her sweet post about her son that you can read here.
Another situation where this affirmation is helpful is when our children are struggling with something and do not want to learn it- but we know it is age appropriate for them to do so. A child who works really hard to get to you to give him the answers to homework assignments would be an example of a time when you can repeat this affirmation to yourself to remind yourself that you are helping, not hurting, your child by allowing them to experience the struggle.
Also, I use the words “age appropriate” purposely. I find that as parents we sometimes forget that as sophistocated as our children may seem, that there are some expectations that may not be age appropriate- expecting a 10-year-old to clean the kitchen to the same standards as an adult, or telling a child they must work things out with a bully at school who is threatening violence are two examples that come to mind.
Saying this affirmation over and over throughout the day makes it become a part of you and of your regular parenting practice.
When have you had to use an affirmation like this?
Do you have a parenting affirmation you would like to share?
Related articles:
Monday is Parenting Affirmation Day! (help4yourfamily.com)
Parenting With Affirmations (help4yourfamily.com)
Chronological vs. Developmental Age (help4yourfamily.com)
I Was a Cereal Killer (MomMeetsBlog.wordpress.com)
Do you like how you are feeling?
Here is another tip for your parenting tool kit. It consists of asking a simple question to your children…Do you like how you are feeling?
I ask my children this when they are grumbling at me about a perceived injustice or when they are frustrated or angry about something. This may seem counter-intuitive. After all, it is pretty clear how they are feeling, and really, who would chose to feel that way? Also, I believe that many parents have been taught that we are responsible for the feelings of our children. We are responsible to be kind to our children. We are responsible for educating our children. We are responsible for keeping them safe. But to say that we are responsible for their feelings when we are being kind and keeping them safe is to pretend that we have control over something we do not. In the moment that our children get angry over harsh words from a friend, or frustrated over homework, then begin to lash out at us, many parents begin to feel as though it is our job to make it all better for them. We tell them the friend was wrong to say that and go about getting angry at the friend (even if, upon reflection, the friend had a point), or we show them how to do the math problem even though they are too frustrated to learn it. Many times this way of doing things can leave us angry because we have taken on the feelings of our child and they do not even appear to be grateful for our help! How irritating.
I have another idea I would like to suggest. Ask your child, “Do you like how you are feeling?” Often times this gives a child a moment to pause and think. They will, in most cases, pause to take in what you are asking, because this is different from your normal response to their behavior. When they respond that they do not, you can gently suggest that they try to change that. It goes like this:
Child: I hate Math, the stupid teacher gave us work we’ve never done in class! (child continues to grumble).
Parent: Do you like how you are feeling right now?
Child: Huh? (Don’t worry- they are thinking about it)… No!
Parent: Why don’t you change that?
Child: I can’t change it! This stupid teacher gave us the worst homework ever! I hate her!
Parent: Yes, and you are choosing to feel very angry about it. I can see that. Would you like to make a different choice?
This conversation often ends in a child huffing at you and grumbling some more. You really do not need to say anything else, unless your child asks you for suggestions to change their mood (then give them some). Stay curious in your tone, avoid sounding critical. The goal of this conversation is not to end all bad feelings. That is not a realistic dream anyway. Sometimes math is just hard! However, what you do accomplish with this conversation is a lesson about each of us being responsible for our own feelings. I have used this conversation with my own daughters since they were three and it has worked quite well. While they do have some times when they are grouchy, often times, after I ask this question, they end up wandering off to their rooms to reflect for a few minutes and come back to the family with a better attitude. For younger children, you may want to talk them through it a bit, but I would strongly suggest that you wait until they ask you for help instead of jumping in to give it right away since when they come to you with a question, they are much more likely to listen to the answer.
The unintended consequence of this conversation is good as well. Now that I use this intervention consistently as part of my parenting tool kit, I also find myself asking the same question internally when I am in a bad mood. I hear myself grumbling at the children, then I hear my own voice in my head asking if I like how I am feeling right now, then suggesting that I change it. This is why you want to make extra sure that you say these words to your children with as much love as possible, because soon, they will be echoing in your own ears.
Please feel free to share other ways you teach children to be responsible for their own feelings. Have you tried this way? How did it work for you?
Related articles
- Trash Your Behavior Charts! (help4yourfamily.com)
- When Your Inner Critic Hurts Your Relationship With Your Child (help4yourfamily.com)
- Ten Free Ways to Break Free From a Bad Mood (help4yourfamily.com)
Teaching young children about “stranger danger”
Street photography – photograph of a child watching children play on the grounds of Arts College at Osmania University, Hyderabad, AP – India. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I am writing this post in response to a post by GorillaParenting’s post, “Stranger Danger- Gorilla Parenting- Fail!” I will re-blog it so you can see the quick video of (I assume) the writer’s daughter answering the question, “What do you do if a stranger tries to give you a piece of candy?” Her answer is, “Say thank you.” While this is very cute, it also raises a question posed by the blogger- how do we teach our children who is safe and who is not?
Most of us grew up hearing about stranger danger and about never talking to strangers, etc. but I think it is time for a new conversation about this topic that first acknowledges that this is a much more complex issue than we give it credit for. We know that it is important in our lives to talk to strangers for many things. After all, on the first day of school, your child’s new teacher is often a stranger to them but of course you want them to talk to the teacher. At the same time, we want them to be able to identify and get away from anyone who has an intent to harm them. So, how does one teach a young child who is and is not safe? Here are a few tips.
1. “Stranger Danger lessons” grow and change over a lifetime and are not a one time event. Start this conversation with your young child by asking them if they know what strangers are, followed up by a question about what strangers look like. You might be surprised by the response you get. Many children know that strangers are people you do not know, but then if you ask what they look like, children sometimes feel they can give a pretty good description. This is your opportunity to begin teaching your child about strangers and how to tell if someone is a “safe” stranger or not. Every child will stay away from a scary guy in a dark cape hanging out in an alley- we know that, it’s the person who would try to lure your child away with kindness that we worry about. And, of course, there is a healthy balance to be made here because we do not want children to be frightened. I coach my own children to speak to strangers that are “helping strangers” like someone who works at the store, a police officer or firefighter. I also tell them if they are ever lost or need help to look for a parent who has children with them that are the same age as my child. After all, a parent with same age children is most likely to empathize with the needs of my child and to help them to get the help they need.
2. Come up with some rules for your child about who is and is not a stranger. When does someone become an acquaintance and does that mean you can go into their home or with them in a car? In one of your ongoing conversations with your child, fit this in. What do you need to know about a person for them not to be a stranger anymore? I often would say you need to know their first and last names, where they live or work, and your mom or dad has to say they are no longer a stranger. Even if someone is not a stranger, you can talk about whether they are okay to go with and make sure your child always knows to tell you before they go with someone. Many families also have a code word that they use with kids so that if something ever happened where, say, the normal person was not there to get them off the bus after school, the parent would send someone to pick the child up and that person would share the code word so the child knows they are safe.
3. Make a playful guessing game with your child when you go to the park and ask them who is a “safe” stranger and who is an “unsafe” stranger. This will give you an opportunity to teach your child to listen to their own instincts about who is safe to talk to and what it is okay to talk to them about, and to teach them that people who look good, are not always what they appear to be. Any stranger that tries to give a child something or tries to have a child go with them without checking with their parents or having the kids check with their parents is not okay. You can also talk with kids about listening to the “uh oh” feeling we get around people sometimes in their tummy, heart or throat. Tell them to check with you first before talking to a stranger (you can come up with a signal like a head nod to say it is okay also). After a child talks to the stranger, ask them how it felt. You can ask them if that person would have been okay to go with to check on their lost puppy (hint- the answer is always “no,” or, “only if I check with you (the parent) first.” If kids get an “uh oh” feeling about a stranger, talk about why they think that is- was the person not listening about your child’s personal space body language (were they in your space bubble?). Was the person asking intrusive, personal questions? Acknowledge how these things can be disturbing and help kids figure out how to address them with adults in a respectful way.
When talking to your young child about strangers, I would be sure to try to keep the conversation on the lighter, playful side since we do not want to scare them, but to also playfully fit in little tests of their knowledge. Children love it when they know the answers to questions. Remember too, that children love it when they know the rules about things, and, even more, they love rituals. Create a ritual where each time you go to the park, you remind them of the rules on the way, stay on the mulched area, ask me before you run to the bathroom by yourself, ask the owner before you pet their dog, and never go anywhere with anyone or accept anything from anyone without asking first. When they are tired of you saying the rules every time, you can make it a guessing game and they can tell you the rules. When they consistently tell you the rules every time, they have got it and you have done the best you can do on this one.
What’s funny is that I don’t think that original video that prompted this post is a “fail” at all. My guess, by looking at the body language of the child is that what actually happened is mom and dad thought they were asking the child about stranger danger but what the child imagined in her safe, secure little world was that a stranger presented her with candy with mom or dad watching and giving a nod, then she takes it. So, what do you do then? Say thank you, of course!
The real problem is that the people who most often harm children are not strangers. Look for future posts about how to help children feel confident enough to protect themselves if someone they know ever tries to cross a boundary.
Related articles
- Beyond “Stranger Danger” (mommeetsblog.wordpress.com)
- How To Answer Tough Questions From Your Kids (help4yourfamily.com)
Qualities of good programs to prevent child abuse
PEARL HARBOR (April 23, 2010) Mara MacDonald, from the Navy New Parent Support Home Visitation Program, leads a group of new mothers and their babies in an infant massage class. The program is administered by the Navy Region Hawaii Fleet & Family Support Center and assists new parents and expecting parents with home visits, information on parenting, referrals, support groups and nurturing skills. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jason Swink/Released) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In my final post (for now) about programs to prevent child abuse, I thought I would highlight some qualities of programs I have seen that effectively work to prevent child abuse. As a reminder, my original start to this series of posts was a question posed on another blog about how we can prevent child abuse and child deaths.
1. The first quality any program providing aid to people who could use parenting help is compassion/ empathy. I know this may seem like a no-brainer, but some programs I have seen seem to leave this element out. No one wants to go to a program to hear how awful they are, thus confirming their internal fear that they are, in fact, awful. A compassionate program understands that all parents experience fear, that we are all doing the best we can, and that none of us have children thinking we are looking forward to messing them up as much as possible. Acknowledging this over and over is an important part of any program seeking to help parents.
2. Normalizing getting help is an incredibly important part of any program seeing to end child abuse. Highlighting the diversity of parents, race, class, and gender, who seek help is also incredibly helpful. This is, in my opinion, best achieved by having mentors that have completed the same or a similar program and are a representation of the general client population of the program. For example, if this is a program aimed toward parents experiencing postpartum depression, you would want a parent mentor or group leader who has experienced this and is regularly available to participants.
3. Good programs focus on the importance of parents in a child’s life. For regular followers of my posts, you know I had to mention attachment :). But seriously, the cornerstone of a good program that prevents child abuse absolutely needs to highlight the impact parents have on their children. I think people sometimes think it is a given that parents know how important they are to their children, but for people struggling with parenting- perhaps people whose parents were not ideal either- I find that many of these parents feel disempowered to make change in their child’s life. A good program reminds a parent of just how important they are.
4. The final quality I would like to highlight is that a good program helps people to build a supportive community. Good programs build communities so that if the program is ever unavailable, the learning and growing continues among the members of the community.
Some good programs I know of in my area are:
The Healthy Families program where parents are met in the hospital by someone from the program and are given support if they request it. Support can include getting help with access to services or forming a group of other new parents in the community. While there are healthy families programs all over the country, you can find the one near me here: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/howard_county_general_hospital/services/mothers_and_babies/healthy_families/index.html
The National Family Resiliency Center (NFRC) is a center for families experiencing a family transition and for parents where there is any need for co-parenting agreements. NFRC has been a national leader in helping court systems to recognize that when parents separate it is important to keep in mind the best interests of the child. They provide individual, couples, group counseling for parents and children, reunification and collaborative divorce services as well as very good classes for parents and children who are experiencing the transition process. Additionally, NFRC helps parents who would like to have co-parent agreements and low-conflict divorce. One way they do this is with an on-line program, www.familyconnex.org to help parents make decisions that are in the best interests of the children. Here is the link to NFRC’s website: www.nfrchelp.org
The Infants and Toddlers program, which is part of the educational system but may go by different names in other states, identifies infants who may have developmental delays and helps parents by offering resources for children birth-5 years with the combination of services they might need to get them school ready. You can find them here: http://marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE/divisions/earlyinterv/infant_toddlers/about/message.htm
There are many more, but these programs I mentioned in particular, although they target different populations, offer the combination of qualities important for a program aiming to prevent child abuse. While they might not even directly target child abuse, they are organizations that can recognize and report possible abuse, and that may help to prevent it in the first place though education and service.
What do you think? Do you know of any good programs that have been effective in your area in preventing abuse? I would love to hear about them. Also, did I miss any qualities of effective programs to help parents?
The Problem with Social Services- from a Social Worker’s Perspective- part I
Written by, Kate Oliver, MSW, LCSW-C
I am writing this post in response to another post by Daniellesstory (I will repost so you can see it if you missed it) asking how it is that we might mobilize to make our children safer. Part of her concern was their safety when they have been entrusted to the care of social services. I would highly recommend you read her post about her experiences with her adopted daughter and social services and her questions about how to enact meaningful legislation that would really help children rather than serve as “nice words” saying we support a safe and healthy childhood for every child. I realize that her blog is not asking solely about Social Services but since most of the children that I see in my practice have had some interaction with social services, this is actually an issue that comes up a lot and I will focus on them for this post. If you are interested in finding out more about my own work history that informs my thoughts here, you can read my longer professional biography on the website www.attachmentdisordermaryland.com- you will find me in the “about us” section. While there are many aspects of Social Services we could talk about, in this post, I am going to stick with ways to change the ability of Social Services to protect children.
The issues, as I see them, are three-fold, implementation, support and funding. I will speak to implementation first. Right now, the individual states are in charge of the Departments of Social Services (they are not even all called that- but they all serve the same function) and within the states, sometimes Social Services are run by the counties and cities within the state. Each area decides for example, the level of education required to call someone a social worker and that can very within a state. In my state, Maryland, the county I live in has Child Protective Service (CPS) workers that are all Master’s level educated, while in Baltimore City, the Master’s level educated people are not in the field, they are supervising the workers in the field who may have an AA or undergraduate degree. It’s easy to see how a CPS worker with an AA would have a different skill set for helping, coping with burnout etc. from a Master’s level worker.
Additionally, different states have different laws about the implementation of protective services. In Maryland we have a law that states that Social Services must respond to an abuse report where a child may be in danger within 24 hours. That law and a law requiring workers to see any child who is a ward of the state routinely was the result of a child death while the child was in care and a subsequent re-haul of the system (via the Maryland state legislature). We also have a “mandatory reporter” law where people that routinely work with children, such as people in the school system, health care workers, social workers, etc. are required to report any suspicion of abuse. Other states have other laws governing (or not governing) social services. Consequently, when we talk about protecting children, we really must look to the laws of the state. In the daniellesstory post, the author suggested a lawsuit. I would suggest laws are easier changed by speaking to politicians about actual measures they can take. It is not my intent at all to minimize or excuse the awful things that happened to that author’s daughter or her daughter’s biological brother, only to better explain where the gaps and disservice comes from.
The question I think I get most often from people first bringing in their traumatized children to me has to do with why social workers do or do not remove children from a home. Here’s the deal… when we have a legal system that presumes innocence until guilt is proven, we create a reactive rather than proactive society. This means that social workers cannot just waltz into a home and remove children unless they have concerns that the child is in iminate harm of abuse. Each state has different laws about what constitutes abuse or neglect. In my state abuse means that a person left a physical mark on a child, used a child in a sexually exploitative manner, neglected to meet a child’s basic needs for health and welfare by not dressing them appropriately for the weather, neglecting to follow through on medical recommendations involving health issues, etc. Also included in my state’s laws related to abuse is mental harm- wherein a child has been emotionally abused by a parent, however, I do not know of a single case where a child has been removed for this alone. To break this down into the parts people seem most interested in, no, you cannot remove a child solely because they have drug addicted or alcoholic parent, or their house is messy all the time (unless the mess creates certain harm to the child), or because you think they are overly punative and mean. Children can be removed if the parents are drug abusers who have taken the child in the car while they were driving drunk or high, the mess in the house constitutes danger to a child, or the punative, mean nature of the parent translates into actual physical harm to the child. Because of the reactive nature of our system, children cannot be removed before harm is done. Child Protective Service (CPS) workers are trained to work to keep children in the home since we do not have a large pool of willing foster parents who are excited to take children into their home. Kinship care (where a child is placed with a relative) is the next step, and foster care is the last resort a worker looks for. Again, implementation of these decisions over whether a child stays or does not stay will have a lot to do with the training and support given to people in local departments and can vary widely.
In 1997, Congress enacted a law making a timeline where social services are required to work toward reunification of the child with their parent, except for some extreme cases, for 15 months. After those months are completed, they are to switch to permanency planning where they work toward the termination of parental rights so a child is free to be adopted. This law is in effect to avoid having children lingering in care for years and years while the system waits for a child’s parent to get it together. The belief behind the law is that children are best served by being in a family. Because this is a federal law- it is the same in every state.
As I mentioned before, not all states have the same laws and you definitely want to look up the laws in your individual state. The laws directly impact the way services are implemented so if you are looking for a different implementation of services, I would suggest you look at the wording of the laws about what constitutes abuse, who is a mandatory reporter and what they would be required to report, and look at the timeline for services for a child outside of the federal timeline like how quickly a child needs to be seen etc. I would not try to change the law to be pro-active (removing children before harm is done), not only is it asking to change a fundamental principle of our legal system, it is a slippery slope. Take, for example, when people say you should need a license to be a parent. Who would implement that law? Who would decide who gets to be a parent? What would the requirements be? When you look at it that way, you can see this is not a road we want to go down. We can’t even agree if a grown woman should be allowed to have birth control covered by her insurance for goodness sake- how in the world would anyone begin to decide who would get the parenting license, etc? I would also point out that I have met many parents who are “licensed”- they are foster parents and while they are required to take classes and pass basic requirements, they continue to have the same spectrum of parenting ability as the general population- anywhere from abhorrent to fantastic. To conclude this portion, I would say that the laws generally protect parents to raise children in the ways we see fit with limits set for the minimum standard of care and the maximum amount of physical force and exploitation. Within those parameters, we are all free to “mess up” our children as much as we would like and the system does not get to take them.
Tomorrow, I am going to post about two other issues, support for Social Workers and others who aid in protecting children and barriers to prevention.
What do you think would be a good law to implement to protect children?
4 Reminders to help the holidays go smoothly for everyone
If you are a parent who is going to celebrate Easter or Passover this weekend please take a moment to remember a few things that will help the holiday’s go smoother.
1. Remember that your children have not done this holiday very many times yet. Even a ten-year old has only experienced this holiday 10 times and does not even remember the first two. Reviewing the expectations and schedule changes so kids can be prepared is very helpful. Will there be family gatherings that are different? Will you be playing outside finding eggs in your Sunday clothes? Is the church or synagogue service longer or done differently?
2. Remember that while we might be tense and/or worried about things like being around family members we don’t often see, or whether we will be able to pull off surprises for the kids, our children- while excited- are also picking up on the feelings and tone we set. If we overextend ourselves, our children will not have as good a time either. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard about the yearly parental meltdown around a holiday! This means, try to keep everyone on the same sleep schedule- including you. Eat and drink as needed… you get the picture.
3. Even though you already spoke with your child about what to expect for the holiday, if you are going anywhere else, gently remind them of the expectations again in the car on the way there. Also talk about adult’s expectations of them. You might be expecting them to act differently at grandma’s but they don’t know that unless you tell them, or after it’s already too late. You may even want to rehearse with a small child about what to do if they receive something unwanted. It is age appropriate for a child, even up to age six to ask if “that’s all” or to say they do not like something. Offer alternatives, like asking a parent quietly in the next room about whether more is coming to them, or saying thank you for a gift or treat they do not like.
4. Possibly most important. Allow yourself to be in and experience the joy of the present moment. Anything that goes wrong now are memories shared and as long as no one got permanently hurt- they are not disasters.
I hope everyone, whether you celebrate or not, has a wonderful weekend!
Related articles
- 4 Rules parents can live by (help4yourfamily.com)
4 Rules parents can live by
About 15 years ago I went to a talk given by Joan Borysenko. During her talk, she said she was quoting from someone whose name she could not remember- I’ve tried to look it up since but I can’t figure out who said it either. What she said is that there are four rules for life: 1. Show up, 2. Pay attention, 3. Give what you have to give, 4. Don’t be connected to the results. I heard these words when I was still in college, before I became a therapist and a mother and they have resonated with me ever since, especially as a parent. I believe that if we all incorporate some of the wisdom of these words into our daily lives as parents then we will all be happier, and we will have happier children.
1. Show up. Turn off your cell phone and the television. If you can ever volunteer at school, do it- even if it is only one time a year. Be present with your child in the moment as much as possible.
2. Pay attention. Pay attention to what your child is trying to tell you. Is your child asking you to read a book or watch a television show they really liked? Maybe there is something in the book they really want to discuss with you. Is your child telling you something about himself or herself that you have not been willing to hear? Notice, this step does not say, “Pay attention and judge.” or “Pay attention and fix what you think is wrong.” It says “Pay attention.” Meditation is a good tool to help us(and our children) learn to be in the present moment.
3. Give what you have to give. Another way I think of this rule is “set boundaries.” Again, notice it does not say “give of yourself until there is nothing left.” I think we as parents can sometimes have a hard time with deciding what it is we have to give, whether it be money, time or attention to our children. To me, giving what I have to give means giving something freely to my children or someone else so long as I will not feel resentful or remourseful later that I gave it. This is a hard one but so important to model for our children.
4. Don’t be connected to the results. I would add that you cannot control them anyway and it is time for us all to stop pretending that we do. Sorry folks, but in parenting there are so many aspects of a child’s life that are so far out of our control that we never had a chance anyway. Oh sure we can pretend things are all our fault when they go right or wrong, but any parent with a child that was traumatized, or who grows up to be addicted to something will tell you that was never in their plan for their child. Sure you can monitor what your child is doing but do they ever get into a vehicle with you or someone else? Do you have a television, radio or computer in your home? Well, if you answered yes to any of these, you no longer control the results. Accidents happen, good people can be hurt, children can conduct secret lives right under our noses with no small thanks to technology. We can have the best of intentions and still things can go wrong.
Depressed yet? Please allow me to help with that. There are some things we can control. We can control our own actions. We can become aware of the ways in which we interact with our children and with others around us. We can be a safe, loving, soft place to fall for our children. We can model health and wellness for them in such a way that it would be difficult for them to ignore how wonderful it looks so they will be attracted to doing the same for themselves. Adding a spiritual practice is a good idea also if you believe in that kind of thing. A spiritual practice reminds us that our relationship with our children is just one important relationship and their relationship to their higher power is another (and is none of our business). Doing all of those things brings us right back to the first four steps I mentioned and allows us to live them with grace and dignity for ourselves and for our children.
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