Parent coaching is a good way for you to up your game as a parent. Unlike family therapy where people are treated for mental health disorders, coaching helps improve any kind of family dynamic—even if things are going well. A coach/consultant can help give you ideas that might well improve your life and that of your kids. So read about five good reasons and benefits to working with a parent coach.
Responding More Thoughtfully
Parenting is a tough job. There are many times when you have to respond quickly and without thinking. But that’s not always the best way to go about handling things.
Having a coach will help you learn how to react thoughtfully instead of impulsively. You’ll become more patient with your children, and you won’t be as quick to punish them for their mistakes. It also helps when you know what the next step should be when they act out or misbehave, making discipline more deliberate and firm.
Parent coaching can also help you work on any personal issues that might be making it difficult for you to parent effectively. Whatever the cause may be, having a coach can help you explore these issues and come up with strategies to overcome them, making your parental skills an extension of the best version of you.
The Kids Want More Attention
All kids want attention. It’s in their DNA. Growing up, children crave praise and attention for being who they are, for doing what they do. Many parents don’t know how to keep up an earnest concern without seeming disingenuous or distracted. Kids can tell when attention is feigned or lacking. They get frustrated, which makes parents get stressed and deteriorates the entire family situation.
Good parent coaches teach parents how to give their kids attention in a positive way so that it doesn’t backfire and lead to power struggles between parent and child. The coach will help you learn new skills to support growth and show children that you care.
Improving Communication
Parents often find themselves fighting a losing battle with kids that just won’t listen. But this isn’t inevitable. With good communication, families can build relationships that make successful parenting easier. It’s easy to get frustrated, angry, or bored when communication isn’t going well, so making sure it doesn’t break down should be a priority in maintaining a healthy family.
A parent coach is trained to promote the fundamental level of communication required for all other parental activities. They recognize the difficulties of parenting, especially with busy lives and outside commitments. That’s why having someone interested in keeping the channels of communication open can be a boon to overworked parents. The time with your kids shouldn’t be spent figuring out how to talk to them, it should be spent enjoying each other’s company and sharing meaningful lessons.
Improving the Whole Family
Of course, the parent/child relationship is the bedrock of a parent coach’s concern, but the other dynamics are equally important. Relationships between partners and siblings also play a big role in the success of a family. Parent coaching can help work out the negative feelings that come from living in constant proximity or bring new life into relationships strained by distance. By promoting happy couples and quality siblinghood, the impact of parenting can go farther with less effort.
Coaches can pinpoint the points of tension by providing an outside perspective. Looking at a family as an objective observer can smooth out conflicts without hurting self-worth or setting a bad example.
Best Practices
No parent is perfect but you are doing your kids a favor if you try to improve your skills. The toughest issues of raising kids in the modern world are almost impossible to understand if you didn’t grow up in a similar environment. From social media, to videogames, to the strain of education, being a child today looks different than it did twenty, ten, or even five years ago.
A parent coach is trained to know, quite simply, what’s best. Screentime, appropriate content, and other sensitive issues are easier to tackle with a professional who is well-versed in the research surrounding their impact on development.
Regardless, you know your kids better than anyone else. You know what they need, you know how they learn, and you know what makes them happy. But do you always get the results you want? If you’re not, or you find it hard to get them, a parent coach may be right for you. A parent coach can help you put your existing parenting skills to work for you and your family and build new ones that will make the future easier and better. They can help you feel more confident in the decisions you make for your kids and help you find solutions to the problems that arise in this most difficult of jobs.
Parent Coaching Help in Lakewood & Longmont CO
If you would like advice on Parent Coaching we are here to help!. We invite you to call us at 720-551-4553 for a free 20-minute phone consultation with a parent coaching specialist. You can schedule your appointment via phone, or the contact page on our website. You can read more about Parent Coaching by clicking here.
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