Single parenting is a challenge to say the least. Managing our children's behavior alone and finding time to pursue personal interests and development are some of the greatest demands that you face as a single parent with no spousal support.
Your Child's Individual Needs
As children progress through their developmental stages, they present different set of needs in addition to their basic needs and it is incumbent upon you to identify your children's individual needs and address them appropriately as they develop.
Equal Dose of Love and Discipline
During the stages of their development it is important that an equal dose of love and discipline be used in managing your children's behaviors.Children are never too "cute" to be disciplined. However to be clear, this does not involve whippings or any type of physical punishment. Rather managing your children's behavior includes both logical and natural consequences as well as positive discipline - role modeling by doing what you expect the children to emulate.
Logical and Natural Consequences
An example of a logical consequence is if a child acts stubborn and don't want to quit playing and go to bed at the expected time, the next day the toy the child loves to play with will not be available until he has gone to bed at the expected time for the next two days.
An example of a natural consequence would be not allowing a child to have a dessert or a treat if he chooses not to eat dinner and instead just want to eat the dessert. The next day there would be no dessert or a treat until the child eats dinner as expected for the next two days.
Or if the child chooses not to share a toy or a game with a sibling or to play a game fairly according to the rules, then the child would have to be temporarily isolated until he understands why the isolation had to occur. The word choose is very important because you want the child to take ownership for either the good or bad consequences that will occur and to change his behavior accordingly.
Quality Time and Self-Discipline
In the early stages of development, children have to learn social skills in addition to developing emotionally and intellectually. Moreover, while the children are internalizing these expectations, you as a single parent, must let the children understand that at certain times of the evening or day or, if it's on the weekend, that you and the children will spend some time together doing something enjoyable. Otherwise, they are expected to read, play alone, play with his siblings, or engage in some other productive activity without being a disturbance.
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