It always feel happy to see our children developing into individuals with creative thinking, unique ideas and ability to assertively express what they think.

But what substance these kids are made of? How and they are able to develop themselves with the ideas they have? How they are so clear in expressing themselves? And what makes them so assertive and unique about their ways and actions?

Well! They might inherit a great deal from their genes, of course we can’t do much about it. But, what we can actually do about is favorably create the surroundings and the atmosphere they grow in.

As parents, we play a tremendous role in making them become what they actually do. Well, the factors that decide on the thinking and mind-set they’r going to grow with are all around us. Just that we need to pay a little attention to smaller details relating to them.

Curiosity in kids is really good

Curiosity is something kids are naturally blessed with, more or less. If you are a parent (or even if you are not) to young children, I am sure you will be totally able to relate with such constant bombardment of questions that they can come up with. Well, the good news is that curiosity in kids makes them more intelligent, confident and outgoing. It is a natural phenomenon which lets them learn and grow. They explore a range of opportunities and possibilities much required for the growth of their brain and personality on the whole.

Positive and encouraging responses nurture it, while excessive control and regulations kill it. For this, it is extremely important that we not only answer their queries, but also encourage them with elements that spark curiosity by giving them hypothetical situations and asking open ended questions.

It’s great if kids are encouraged to make their choices

We all want our children to grow as assertive, strong and opiniated adults but at the same time we want our children to be passive, pliable and obedient as kids. The two hardly go hand in hand. The ability to give their opinions comes from their very childhood. When they are making choice of their clothes no matter how wrongly paired those are, they are expressing themselves. Allow them to exhibit their own personalities. When they refuse to get ready on time, they are learning the consequences from their mistakes. Let them learn from their inactions.

Such allowances can be messy and overwhelming. After all, we can’t allow our kids to rule the lives. But that is what parenting is all about. Guidance, gentle explanations and coaching go a long way in regulating them to the way they respond. How successful we are going to be in the same depends on how well we try to connect with them.

Talking back and disagreements are good sometimes

Well, this may sound simple but it’s really not cool when that actually happens. Imagine you asking your kid to do his homework and he says why should I? Actually it’s not easy to listen to their back talks when what we are saying is right and is for their good. We as parents want to have the last word on whatever it is.

But if we try to understand talking back is a huge part of the formation of their personality. They want to make their choices. They are not ready to accept what is dished out to them. Yelling, arguing back or supressing through powerful means is just of no help. When they disagree with us, they are displaying a strong mindset. The best way is to diverge them to a different way to reach a solution.

Allowances for being imperfect are okay

As parents we have a tendency to get our child draw, colour or write perfect. Well, in reality the expectation should be to do well rather than be perfect. Over guiding children to colour with all the colours in boundaries or write spellings without mistakes restricts their thinking. Those little imperfections help them discover creative and their own approach to doing a particular thing. It’s very important that we guide them to the extent and in a way that doesn’t hamper their creativity

The power of appreciation can never be underestimated

As adults, we all like to be appreciated and so goes for out kids. It’s one of the greatest ways of enforcing positive behavior.

Praising or appreciating here doesn’t mean praising them for giving the best result or for some accomplishment or for some innate trait they have like their smartness, intelligence or talent. It’s got to get wider with praising for their efforts, gestures, and strategies. It’s more about trying and not getting distressed even if they are not the best. It’s more about getting better even if they do well. It’s more about attempting something even though they were not confident about it. It’s more about trying hard to reach the goal they decide for themselves.

So let’s appreciate for listening, appreciate for understanding, appreciate for being responsible, and appreciate for being thoughtful!

It’s a great practice to communicate by narrating stories

How often we notice that kids pay special attention if we tell some present or past incidence or narration or practices about our own selves or someone they know . This means, it can be a great way to diverge their thought process to meaningful inferences and conclusions through stories. That can be anything from being true or concocted as far as they are going to leave some good impression on our children.

Even kids can be made to narrate through simple practices; narrating about a particular place they went to, drawing an event or function they attended, correlating an object with something using their own thoughts and ideas or anything.

If we try to understand it, parenting is more about growing ourselves in raising children than anything else and they are completely a reflection of how well we are able to bring it in our practice.