Purposeful Parenting Ideas - 6-12 years
Hey! I am so excited that you are here! I really applaud you for taking this step towards feeling confident to be the best parent that you can be. I know you are already an amazing parent just by being here. Your child is very lucky. I am keen for you to get so much out of this little series of ideas that are specific to YOU and YOUR child right now.
Here’s the easy part. As you read this blog, you will see below that I have 6 ideas for you and you can choose what to do next. You can choose to implement them all right away or just select the ones that appeal to you for now. You could try one each day or one each week. It is up to you but remember, something is better than nothing, what have you got to lose? Let’s do this.
When picking up from school or chatting about the school day in the evening, when you normally ask, “How was your day?” Instead, ask “What was the highlight/best part of your day?” This might encourage more than a 1-word answer! You can lengthen this conversation by sharing the highlight of your day too!
At the end of every school holidays or after each weekend, ask your child what was the highlight or their favourite part. Not only does this encourage a conversation but also helps your child to appreciate special occasions or events that are shared with family and friends. This also helps you understand the things that your child loves to do.
Increase your child’s ability to pitch in and help out at home in a fun way! Allow your child to practise doing dishes. Often children like to play with water (and soap!) and by having them stand on a stool at the kitchen sink gives them a fun and teachable activity. Have them wash drink bottles, plastic cups and plates to start with but leave the breakable items for yourself after your child finishes up. Don’t forget to tell them how much you love and appreciate their help in the kitchen! A little positive reinforcement will encourage them to do it again.
Offer more sophisticated vocabulary in conversations with your child. By modeling the use of sophisticated language when you are speaking with your child it can inject that new language into their vocabulary. Your child may not use the words straightaway in conversations but it all starts with them hearing the words from you and understanding their meaning in real life experiences. Sometimes hearing it multiple times over is helpful. There is no need to delve deep into scientific terms here at all (but you can!) however, simply using multiple descriptive words for things or ‘real’ words are helpful. Even better, if you have any insight to the topics your child is learning each term in school for Science, Math, Art etc. there are words related to those topics that you could inject into your conversations at home to help them deepen their understanding of such topics.
Do not underestimate how capable your child is to complete tasks on their own. Spend time helping your child to complete tasks that will help you around the house and help your child develop the skills to live independently one day too! Such tasks may include; making their breakfast or lunch, washing dishes, putting washing in the machine, mowing the lawns, emptying rubbish, vacuuming, making their bed, setting the table for dinner and much much more!
Help your child to manage their use of devices such as phones and iPads by modeling that control yourself. Set time limits for scrolling through social media and playing games. Put rules in place for what times of the day or which days are free of device time. Create an environment in your home for all members to feel like they can chat, read or play a game together without distractions from family members being on their phones.
And there you have it! You now have 6 Purposeful Parenting ideas for your 6-12 year old! I hope you are excited to try some of these ideas or better yet, recognise that you already do some of these things because you are amazing!
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