Why not add “improve parenting skills” on your list of New Year’s Resolutions? After all, kids are high on the priority list for parents. One the best ways to stick to New Year’s Resolutions is to create concrete goals that can be measured. Choose from this round up of measurable Positive Discipline resolutions or create your own measurable goals.
Schedule Weekly Special Time with Children
Special time is simply quality one on one time with a child. Any parent who’s consistently spent special time with a child knows that it strengthens the relationship, improves a child’s attitude, and reduces the frequency of misbehavior. Spending special time on a weekly basis sends the message of love to a child and offers important bonding time, the experience that all children want most.
Parents can find more information about special time on page 153 in the most current edition of the book, Positive Discipline, by Jane Nelsen. A resolution about special time can even help improve sibling relationships and reduce jealousy among children in a family. To maintain consistency and stay on track, parents can mark this measurable goal on a calendar.
Read a Positive Discipline Book
If you’ve never read a Positive Discipline book, consider choosing one to read as one of your New Year’s resolutions. Even parents who have read the books can improve their parenting skills by re-reading the same book or a new title. Even if parents only read one chapter per month, they can read the entire book by the end of the year. Jane Nelsen has authored and co-authored over thirteen parenting books so there are plenty of titles from which to choose.
The original Positive Discipline book is a classic and thoroughly explains all of the concepts and ideas of Adlerian psychology, the basis for Positive Discipline parenting. Positive Time Out is a shorter read and gives a basic overview and presents effective parenting skills in concise way. Some books are geared towards particular age groups, such as teens, preschoolers or children ages birth – three years.
Some parents will be more successful by keeping a book in their car, especially parents who wait in carpool lines or drive kids back and forth to activities. When parents have to wait, they can use the time to read and work on a resolution.
Attend a Positive Discipline Parenting Class
Some parents think that only bad parents attend parenting classes. Not true. Every parent can always improve his or her parenting skills. Besides attending an engaging parenting class taught by a trained facilitator can actually be fun and rewarding. Many of the activities produce lots of laughter and learning at the same time.
There are so many possibilities for developing New Year’s Resolutions that will improve a mom or dad’s parenting skills:
- Create a new morning routine chart or routine chart
- Start weekly family meetings
- Subscribe to Jane Nelsen’s blog
- Get the kids involved with a few age-appropriate chores
Whatever you choose, write down your measurable goals and post them in a prominent place. Break the goal into smaller tasks and make baby steps towards your goal.
Parents can visit the message boards on the Positive Discipline network (It’s free to join) to ask for ideas on achieving New Year’s resolutions or read the resolutions of other parents to gather ideas on creating measurable goals and improving parenting skills during the next year. Jane Nelsen even joins in on many of the discussions.
Kelly Pfeiffer - Kelly Pfeiffer teaches Positive Discipline workshops to parents and trains child care providers on various child development topics.
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