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It’s understandable that you’ll want to be the best possible parent. The thing is that there is no such thing as a perfect parent. What matters is that you do your best and try to improve in areas where you don’t feel confident.
In this guide, we’ll outline common mistakes that people make when parenting toddlers and what you can to do avoid them.
Putting too much pressure on yourself
As we touched on earlier, there is no such thing as a perfect parent. Putting pressure on yourself to be perfect is only going to cause stress and anxiety which will hamper your ability to parent at your best. Furthermore, comparing yourself to other parents is never going to end well.
Instead, just do your best and give yourself room to fail. Be present, and in those moments where you think you’ve fallen short, aim to do better next time.
Not taking care of yourself
Toddlers need a lot of care, but this doesn’t mean that your needs no longer matter. Think about it – you take breaks at work, so why shouldn’t you do it as a parent? You need to rest and monitor your physical and mental health. If you’re not at your best, you can’t be your best for your little ones. The better care you take of yourself, the better care you’ll be able to give to your toddler.
Too much baby talk
As cute as baby talk may be, it actually isn’t good for your child. Toddlers mimic what we do, including how we speak – which means if you’re constantly doing baby talk, they will do the same. Good communication skills are essential for every child and they will follow your example.
You don’t need to speak to them about politics and religion, but speak to them like an adult and you’ll be surprised how quickly they start to do the same.
Getting screen time wrong
In today’s day and age screen time is almost unavoidable. So, instead of pretending you can ignore it, build good habits in your kids from a young age. For example, you can build cartoons for babies and toddlers into their daily routine to expose them to some important life lessons, good role models, and some fun entertainment.
Never allowing them to fail
As a parent, it’s understandable that you’ll want to protect your child from failure as much as possible. The thing is that failure is an important learning tool. By understanding how things shouldn’t be done, we get a better idea of how they should be done. Plus, as your toddler grows, you won’t always be there to help. Your child needs to learn how to overcome and handle things on their own.
Being inconsistent
Consistency is essential for toddlers, as it helps them to understand the difference between right and wrong. If you aren’t consistent with discipline, for example, they will struggle to understand boundaries and think they can get away with things that they shouldn’t.
Not leading by example
Toddlers model their behaviour after their parents, so it’s important to keep this in mind. If you don’t eat healthy food, it’s going to be an uphill battle asking your kids to do the same. If you’re glued to a screen all the time, can you really be surprised if your kids want to do the same? Set the example that you want your kids to follow as best you can.
Final Thoughts
Keep an eye out for these mistakes and do your best to avoid them!
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