1. http://www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Good-Parent
Being a parent can be one of the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences of your life, but that
doesn't mean it's easy. No matter what age your child or children are, your work is never done.
To be a good parent, you need to know how to make your children feel valued and loved, while
teaching them the difference between right and wrong. At the end of the day, the most important
thing is to create a nurturing environment where your children feel like they can thrive and
develop into confident, independent, and caring adults. If you want to know how to be a good
parent, see Step 1 to be on your way.
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Part 1 of 3: Loving Your Child
1.
1
Give your child love and affection. Sometimes the best thing you can give your child is
love and affection. A warm touch or a caring hug can let your child know how much you
really care about him or her. Don't ever overlook how important a physical connection is
when it comes to your child. Here are some ways to show love and affection:
 A gentle cuddle, a little encouragement, appreciation, approval or even a smile
can go a long way to boost the confidence and well-being of your children.
 Tell them you love them every day, no matter how angry at them you may be.
 Give lots of hugs and some kisses. Make your children comfortable with love and
affection from birth.
 Love them unconditionally; don't force them to be who you think they should be
in order to earn your love. Let them know that you will always love them no
matter what.

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2.
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Praise your children. Praising your children is an important part of being a good parent.
You want your kids to feel proud of their accomplishments and good about themselves. If
you don't give them the confidence they need to be out in the world on their own, then
they won't feel empowered to be independent or adventurous. When they do something
good, let them know that you've noticed and that you're very proud of them.
 Make a habit of praising your children at least three times as much as you give
them negative feedback. Though it's important to tell your children when they're
doing something wrong, it's also important to help them build a positive sense of
self.
 If they are too young to fully understand, praise them with treats, applause, and
lots of love. Encouraging them for doing everything from using the potty to
getting good grades can help them lead a happy and successful life.
3.
Avoid comparing your children to others, especially siblings. Each child is individual
and unique. Celebrate their differences and instill in each child the desire to pursue their
interests and dreams. Failure to do so may give your child an inferiority complex, an idea
that they can never be good enough in your eyes. If you want to help them improve their

3. behavior, talk about meeting their goals on their own terms, instead of telling them to act
like their sister or neighbor. This will help them develop a sense of self instead of having
an inferiority complex.
 Comparing one child to another can also make one child develop a rivalry with
his or her sibling. You want to nurture a loving relationship between your
children, not a competitive one.
 Avoid favoritism. Surveys have shown that most parents have favorites, but most
children believe that they are the favorite. If your children are quarreling, don't
choose sides, but be fair and neutral.
4.
4
Listen to your children. It's important that your communication with your children goes
both ways. You shouldn't just be there to enforce rules, but to listen to your children
when they are having a problem. You have to be able to express interest in your children
and involve yourself in their life. You should create an atmosphere in which your
children can come to you with a problem, however large or small.
 You can even set aside a time to talk to your children every day. This can be
before bedtime, at breakfast, or during a walk after school. Treat this time as
sacred and avoid checking your phone or getting distracted.
 If your child says he has to tell you something, make sure you take this seriously
and drop everything you're doing, or set up a time to talk when you can really
listen.
5.

4. 5
Make time for your children. Be careful not to stifle or smother them, however. There's
a big difference between protecting someone and imprisoning them within your too
unyielding demands. You want them to feel like your time together is sacred and special
without making them feel like they are forced to spend time with you.
 Spend time with each child individually. Try to divide your time equally if you
have more than one child.
 Listen and respect your child and respect what they want to do with their life.
 Set aside a day to go to a park, theme parks, museum or library depending on their
interests.
 Attend school functions. Do homework with them. Visit their teacher at open
house to get a sense of how they are doing in school.
6. 6
Be there for the milestones. You may have a hectic work schedule, but you should do
everything you can to be there for the important moments in your children's lives, from
their ballet recitals to their high school graduation. Remember that children grow fast and
that they'll be on their own before you know it. Your boss may or may not remember that
you missed that meeting, but your child will most certainly remember that you didn't
attend the play they were in. Though you don't have to drop everything for your children,
you should at least try to be there for the milestones.
 If you were too busy to be there for your child's first day of school or another
important milestone, you are liable to regret it for the rest of your life. And you
don't want your child to think of his high school graduation as the time when his
mom or dad couldn't show up.

5. Part 2 of 3: Being a Good Disciplinarian
1. 1
Enforce reasonable rules. Enforce rules that apply to every person leading a happy and
productive life — not model rules of your ideal person. It's important to set rules and
guidelines that help your child develop and grow without being so strict that your child
feels like he can't take a step without doing something wrong. Ideally, your child should
love you more than he fears your rules.
 Communicate your rules clearly. Children should be very familiar with the
consequences of their actions. If you give them a punishment, be sure they
understand the reason and the fault; if you cannot articulate the reason and how
they are at fault the punishment will not have the discouraging effects you desire.
 Make sure that you not only set reasonable rules, but that you enforce them
reasonably. Avoid overly harsh forms of punishment, ridiculously stringent
punishments for minor infractions, or anything that involves physically hurting
your child.
2. 2
Control your temper as much as you can. It's important to try to be as calm and
reasonable as you can when you explain your rules or carry them out. You want your
children to take you seriously, not fear you or think of you as unstable. Obviously, this
can be quite a challenge, especially when your children are acting out or just driving you
up the wall, but if you feel yourself getting ready to raise your voice, take a break and
excuse yourself before you finish talking to your children.

6.  We all lose our tempers and feel out of control, sometimes. If you do or say
something you regret, you should apologize to your children, letting them know
that you've made a mistake. If you act like the behavior is normal, then they will
try to mimic it.
3.
3
Be consistent. It's important to enforce the same rules all the time, and to resist your
child's attempts to manipulate you into making exceptions. If you let your child do
something he or she is not supposed to do just because he or she is throwing a tantrum,
then this shows that your rules are breakable. If you find yourself saying, "Okay, but only
just this once..." more than once, then you have to work on maintaining more consistent
rules for your children.
 If your child feels like your rules are breakable, he'll have no incentive to stick to
them.
4. 4
Be a united front with your spouse. If you have a spouse, then it's important that your
children think of you as a united front — as two people who will both say "yes" or "no"
to the same things. If your kids think that their mother will always say yes and their father
will say no, then they'll think that one parent is "better" or more easily manipulatable than
the other. They should see you and your spouse as a unit so there's order in your high
school, and so you don't find yourself in a difficult situation because you and your spouse
don't agree on certain things when it comes to raising the kids.

7.  This doesn't mean that you and your house have to agree 100% about everything
having to do with the kids. But it does mean that you should work together to
solve problems that involve the children, instead of being pitted against each
other.
 You shouldn't argue with your spouse in front of the children. If they are sleeping,
argue quietly. Children may feel insecure and fearful when they hear parents
bickering. In addition, children will learn to argue with each other the same way
they hear their parents argue with each other. Show them that when people
disagree, they can discuss their differences peacefully.
5.
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Provide order for your children. Your kids should feel like there's a sense of order and
a logic to things in their household and in their family life. This can help them feel safe
and at peace and to live a happy life both in and outside of their home. Here are some
ways that you can provide order for your children:
 Set boundaries such as bedtimes and curfews, so they learn that they have
limitations. By doing so, they actually get a sense of being loved and cared about
by their parents. They might rebel at those boundaries, but inwardly enjoy
knowing that concerned parents guide and love them.
 Encourage responsibility by giving them jobs or "chores" to do and as a reward
for those jobs give them some kind of privilege (money, extended curfew, extra
play time, etc.). As "punishment" for not doing these jobs, they have the
corresponding privilege revoked. Even the youngest of children can learn this
concept of reward or consequence. As your child grows, give them more
responsibilities and more rewards or consequences for completing those
responsibilities or ignoring them.

8.  Teach them what is right and wrong. If you are religious, take them to the
religious institute that you follow. If you are an atheist or an agnostic, teach them
your moral stance on things. In either case, don't be hypocritical or be prepared
for your child to point out that you are not "practicing what you preach".
6.
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Criticize your child's behavior, not your child. It's important to criticize your children's
actions, instead of your actual child. You want your child to learn that he or she can
accomplish whatever he or she wants through his or her behavior, instead of being stuck
being one kind of person. Let him or her feel like he has the agency to improve his
behavior.
 When your child acts out in a harmful and spiteful manner, tell him or her that
such behavior is unacceptable and suggest alternatives. Avoid statements such as:
"You're bad." Instead, say something like, "It was very wrong to be mean to your
little sister." Explain why the behavior was bad.
 Be assertive yet kind when pointing out what they have done wrong. Be stern and
serious, but not cross or mean, when you tell them what you expect.
 Avoid public humiliation. If they misbehave in public, take them aside, and scold
them privately.
Part 3 of 3: Helping Your Child Build Character
1. 1

9. Teach your children to be independent. Teach your children that it is okay for them to
be different, and they do not have to follow the crowd. Teach them right from wrong
when they are young, and they will (more often than not) be able to make their own
decisions, instead of listening to or following others. Remember that your child is not an
extension of yourself. Your child is an individual under your care, not a chance for you to
relive your life through them.
 When your children get old enough to make decisions for themselves, you should
encourage them to choose which extra-curricular activities they want to do or
what friends they want to play with. Unless you think an activity is very
dangerous, or a playmate is a very bad influence, you should let your children
figure things out for themselves.
 A child may have an opposite disposition, ie: introverted when you are
extroverted, for instance, and will not be able to fit into the pattern and style that
you choose, and will make his or her own decisions instead.
 They need to learn that their own actions have consequences (good and bad). By
doing so, it helps them to become good decision makers and problem solvers so
that they are prepared for independence and adulthood.
 Don't routinely do things for your children that they can learn to do for
themselves. While getting them a glass of water before bed is a nice way to make
them get to sleep faster, don't do it so often that they come to expect it.
2. 2
Be a good role model. If you want your child to be well-behaved, then you should model
the behavior and character you hope your children will adopt and continue to live by the
rules that you set. Show them by example in addition to verbal explanations. Children
have a tendency to become what they see and hear unless they make a conscious and
concerted effort to break the mold. You don't have to be a perfect person, but you should
strive to do as you want your children to do, so you don't look hypocritical if you tell

10. your children to be polite to others when they find you getting in a heated argument in the
supermarket.
 It's perfectly okay to make mistakes, but you should apologize or let your child
know that the behavior is not good. You can say something like, "Mommy didn't
mean to yell at you. She was just very upset." This is better than ignoring that you
made a mistake, because that will show the child that he or she should model this
behavior.
 Want to teach kids about charity? Get involved and take your kids with you to a
soup kitchen or homeless shelter and help serve up meals. Explain to them why
you do acts of charity so they understand why they should.
 Teach kids about chores by setting a schedule and having them help you out.
Don't tell your child to do something, but ask for their help. The earlier they learn
to help you, the longer they will be willing to.
 If you want your son or daughter to learn to share, set a good example and share
your things with them.
3.
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Respect your child's privacy. Respect their privacy as you would want them to respect
yours; for example, if you teach your child that your room is out of boundaries to them,
respect the same with their room. Allow them to feel that once they enter their room they
can know that no one will look through their drawers, or read their diary. This will teach
them to honor their own space and to respect the privacy of others.
 If your child catches you snooping through his or her things, then it may take him
a long time to be able to truly trust you again.

11. 4. 4
Encourage your children to have a healthy lifestyle. It's important to make sure that
your children eat healthy food as much as they can, that they get plenty of exercise, and
that they get enough rest every night. You should encourage positive and healthy
behavior without harping on it too much or making it seem like you're forcing your
children to eat or act a certain way. Let them come to these conclusions on their own
while helping them see the meaning and importance of a healthy life.
 One way to encourage them to exercise is to get them to play a sport early on in
life, so they find a passion that is also healthy.
 If you start over-explaining to the child that something is unhealthy or that they
shouldn't get it, they may take it the wrong way and feel like you are insulting
them. Once this happens, they will no longer want to go out to eat with you, and
they will feel bad eating around you, which could make them want to sneak and
hide junk food from you.
 When trying to enforce healthy eating habits, start it at a younger age. Giving
rewards of candy to children may create a bad habit, because once they get older,
some may feel they should reward themselves which can lead to obesity. While
they are young, start them out with healthier snacks. Instead of chips, try goldfish
(crackers), grapes, etc.
 The eating habits they learn as they are younger are the ones they continue to
have. Also, never make your child finish their plate, if they say they are not
hungry. This can continue throughout their lives, causing them to finish no matter
what portions are on their plate.
5. 5

12. Emphasize moderation and responsibility when it comes to alcohol consumption.
You can start talking about this even when children are young. Explain that they will
have to wait until they are old enough to enjoy a drink with friends, and talk about the
importance of designated drivers. Failure to discuss these issues early sometimes
contributes to sneaking and dangerous experimentation, if they don't understand.
 Once your friends get to an age where they and their friends start drinking
alcohol, encourage them to talk about it with you. You don't want them to fear
your reaction and to end up doing something regrettable, like driving drunk
because they're too scared to ask for a ride.
6.
6
Allow your kids to experience life for themselves. Don't make decisions for them all
the time; they must learn how to live with the consequences from the choices they make.
After all, they will have to learn to think for themselves sometime. It's best they start
when you are there to help minimize the negative consequences and accentuate the
positive ones.
 They need to learn that their own actions have consequences (good and bad). By
doing so, it helps them to become good decision makers and problem solvers so
that they are prepared for independence and adulthood.
7. 7

13. Let your children make their own mistakes. Life is a great teacher. Don't be too quick
to rescue your child from the results of their own actions if the consequences are not
overly severe. For example, cutting themselves (in a minor way) may hurt, but it's better
than leaving them unaware of why sharp objects should be avoided. Know that you can't
protect your children forever, and they're better off learning life's lessons sooner than
later. Though it can be hard to stand back and watch your child make a mistake, this will
benefit both you and your child in the long run.
 You shouldn't say "I told you so" when your child learns a life lesson on his own.
Instead, let your child draw his own conclusions about what happened.
8.
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Give up your vices. Gambling, alcohol and drugs can jeopardize your child's financial
security. Smoking, for example, almost always introduces health hazards to your child's
environment. Second-hand smoke has been linked to several respiratory ailments in
children. It could also contribute to the early death of a parent. Alcohol and drugs might
also introduce health hazards or violence to your child's environment.
 Of course, if you enjoy having some wine or a few beers now and again, that's
perfectly fine, as long as you model healthy consumption of alcohol and
responsible behavior while you do it.
9. 9

14. Don't place unreasonable expectations on your child. There's a difference between
wanting your child to be a responsible, mature individual and forcing your child to be
perfect or to live up to your idea of what perfect should be. You shouldn't push your child
to get perfect grades or to be the best player on his soccer team; instead, encourage good
study habits and good sportsmanship, and let your child put in the effort that he is capable
of.
 If you act like you only expect the best, your child will feel like he or she may
never measure up, and may even rebel in the process.
 You don't want to be the person that your child is afraid of because he feels like
he will never measure up. You want to be a cheerleader for your child, not a drill
sergeant.
10. 10
Know that a parent's work is never done. Though you may think you have already
molded and raised your child into the person he or she will become by the time your child
dons his or her graduation cap, this is far from true. Your parenting will have a life-long
effect on your child and you should always give your child the love and affection he
needs, even if you're hundreds of miles away. While you won't always be a constant daily
presence in your child's life, you should always let your children know that you care
about them and that you'll be there for them, no matter what.
 Your children will still turn to you for advice, and will still be affected by what
you say no matter what age they are. As the years go on, you can not only
improve your parenting techniques, but you can start to think about how to be a
good grandparent!