HELLO welcome back to Inspo Family - Parent Talk! A podcast to help parents with the struggle of parenting. Parent Talk is designed to remind all of us that you are not alone in your struggles, feelings and well…parenting!
I am your host Alexandria and I am so glad you have joined us for today!
Today’s topic is teaching kids how to stand up for themselves.
Today's world is cruel and harsh and too rude for their own good, and I am not talking about adults. Has your child ever been in a situation where they were being picked on and just let it happen? You never think about standing up for yourself is something that would have to be taught. If you think a bit more about it we as parents always tend to shoot our children down when they are standing up for themselves. Yeah that sucks and yeah it is annoying but you can't be selective on who they stand up for themselves to.
My youngest child is the strongest willed child I know. He is not afraid to tell you what he is feeling, or how you look or even talk back to you if he feels you were in the wrong. This shit gets under my skin more than anything in the entire world… like I feel my yelling fuse is so short even when he opens his mouth because it always seems to be a smart ass comment and he is only 6…. But as i write this i realize he is just standing up for what he believes is true, so i should be the bigger person and talk to him instead of yell, but that is for a future topic. Anyways, that is when I realized we don't really teach our children that are standing up for themselves. I mean I am sure we have all had a talk or to about it to our kids, but we shoot that idea down when it comes to us. So what lesson is that really teaching our children? Not any that is relevant….
Children should have the confidence to know that they should always stand up for themselves no matter who it is, because even adults are wrong sometimes. My eldest son told me earlier today “Mom, did you know you are not always right?” That statement alone made me think, you know what you are right, I am not always right, and i can't just give my children plan answers like because I said so anymore because that no longer makes sense to them. They are at a stage in their lives where they need to question things about their world around them… this is the stage, this is the stage where learning to stand up for themselves happens. So we as parents must let it. We must carefully answer any and all questions they ask no matter how stumped we seem. Man i know my kids ask my some questions that i am completely caught off guard with… my response is “ you know, i don't know the answer to that I am going to have to get back to you on that” I tell them this that way they know i heard them and know that what they asked is important to me, so I will go find an answer for them.
I believe this falls under the good enough category of parenting. It is showing your kids YEAH i don't know everything but i try to be the most honest and helpful I can. It also shows them that no one is perfect and perfect people don't exist. So be wise with answering questions kids have and be wise with your responses to things that kids say… because you want that confidence within them built up so high no one can knock it down.. Not even you!
Remember Inspo Family is a place where families grow, so grow through kindness because kindness matters and so do you!
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