URL Mag-ezine September/October 2013 | Page 12

Parenting 102 “Where we kick Parenting 101’s ars” 3 Tough Love Parenting Strategies From imom.com Parents are hard wired to protect their children from harm—even from momentary discomfort. But sometimes those moments of disappointment or frustration are necessary to drive home important lessons. For some strong-willed children, nothing but tough love gets through. Here are some ways you might use tough love to overcome problems. 1. The forgetful child. If your child is the chronic forgetter of homework, leaver of lunch boxes, and loser of jackets, some tough love may be in order. When your child calls in a panic from school to ask you to bring the missing assignment, think long and hard about it—especially if this is a recurring problem. Let him or her take the zero, along with all the standard correction at home that comes with a low grade. Let her go without lunch and be hungry for a few hours. Natural consequences are excellent teachers—let them do their job. 2. The disobedient child. If your child persistently breaks the rules you’ve established, you may need to ban the very thing they want badly enough to disobey. For instance, if you’ve set a limit on video gaming to one hour per day but they ignore it and plays longer, the gaming system probably nee ???)???????????????????Q??????????????????????????????????????????)????????????????????????????????????????e?????????????????????)????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????)?????????????9???????????????????????????????????(??Q?????????????Q???????????????????????????????????????Q???)?????????????????????????????????????????????????????e?????)???????????????????????????????????????????e???????????????????????????????????%??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????)?????()Q?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????)??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????e??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????)???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????e????????????????????????????????((??((0