Ten Tips for Parents By Jeff Yelden (speaker here at FWHMS 2010)
Jeff Yelden
- Never let your hate for anyone or anything be greater than the love you have for your child.
- This is huge. It is absolutely necessary to keep your perspective when raising your kids. I find that GRACE is the best tool to use when feeling the need to hate or disparage.
- Allow your child the opportunity to fail. No child is perfect and for them to believe so will only inhibit their willingness to take the risks necessary to be successful.
- If at first you don’t succeed try, try again.
- Teaching moments are only created through a child’s need to learn... Unfortunately life lessons are usually accompanied by a great deal of hurt, anger and resentment.
- The moments we as parents are given to teach require time and energy.
- It is our willingness to put our needs and wants aside for the greater good of our kids that define us as teachers.
- Do not allow what happened to you, as a child be the measure of what will happen to your child. This is for any parent that burdens their kids with their legacy or personal preferences.
- You can only expose your kids to your world; they will learn where their passion lies through their own experiences.
- In order for a child to respect you, you must respect your child. Keep in mind that respecting a child means only that you respect them as a human being not as an equal.
MORE OF JEFF YELDEN'S WISDOM (guest speaker here September 2010)
Model the person you want your child to be A child is able to grasp the human experience because they are visual learners first. Provide your child the living model of what you want them to be.
Monkey see…Monkey do.
Expectations are a recipe for disappointment.
A parent’s expectations for the life, life style or life choices of their child will in time only disappoint them.
A parent’s unconditional love of their child will promote a healthy, well-rounded, confident adult.
Never miss the opportunity to tell your child that you love them and that you are proud of them. Kids need to know that they are loved and telling them so reminds them and enforces all the nonverbal cues we give them. Telling your child you are proud of them encourages them to repeat the behaviors that made you proud to begin with.
Parenting is a marathon not a sprint!
You are never really done being a parent so don’t look for the finish line.
Trust is earned not given. Far too often we as parents extend our trust to our kids similar to the line of credit that banks give to us. Trust is a virtue that is earned through a series of baby steps amounting to huge leaps of faith.