When someone becomes a parent, a whole new world begins. Gone are the days when you can worry only about yourself. You are now responsible for a small human being who you love wholeheartedly. This is also a time when the fear sets in. Will I be a good parent? Will I be able to provide for my child? How do I know that I am doing the right thing? Being a parent is tough, and you want to make the right decisions that are best for your child. Below are common factors that you should consider when considering how to apply gentle parenting techniques through the life of your child.

Gentle Parenting Starts During Pregnancy

Even before your child is born, she can hear sounds from outside the womb. Sure, she’s immersed in a tranquil sea of mommy heartbeats and fluid, and breathing, but she can also hear music and faint voices. Be careful not to argue. When she’s born, she’ll know your voice. These moments at birth are critical for attachment. Babies can smell their mother, and scents from a mother’s nipple draw the baby to her milk. It’s beautiful and this is perfectly evolutionary, but be wary. They are still little humans with little human senses and they can observe and experience the outside world. When she’s born, she’ll have trouble using her eyes, so your smell and the sound of your voice will be even more important.

From the moment your child is born, she will be listening, observing, and learning from you. The way that you show affection and gratitude to the way you display your tolerance for stress and frustration. Your behavior and response to life’s challenges are observable and subsequently, “learnable” by your child – and this is why it is so important to consider your responses carefully. From what you say to how you dress and how you react is being watched by your child. Be thoughtful of your actions so that you can show your child how a responsible adult should be. See: Tips on Raising Daughters.

How to Be a Great Parent with Love

You can never show too much love. From hugs to kisses and just talking, your child needs to feel they are special. You are not spoiling your child by showing them that you care. By providing a positive loving environment, you set your child up for success. It stars when they are babies, but children and adults really start to interact on a new level when they are toddlers. During the terrible two’s, there are some important parenting behaviors to keep in mind.

Be a Gentle Parent Means Being Involved

So many times, children experience parents who are not there. They may be physically present in the home but are not involved in their lives. Learn their friend’s names. Find out what your child likes to do. Their favorite color or food. Simply talk to your child and learn what they enjoy and what is taking place in their everyday lives. Do they like their school? Their school friends? If you make this a habit, you will be able to stay connected with your child as they blossom into a teenager and young adult.

Playing is one of the easiest ways of connecting with your child. Laughter and playfulness bring you both closer. Speak her language and bring yourself down to her eye level and embrace her toys and imagination.

Adapt To Your Child

Gentle parenting means that every parent of multiple children knows that no two children are alike. You must have a different parenting style for the individual child. Make sure that you adapt to your child as they grow as well as based on the individual. You may have one child who wants to do things on their own while another needs assistance. This can be frustrating on both levels as you may just want to help the child who wants to help themselves. However, you should provide the child with space to make their own decisions, let them do it on their own if that is their personality. It’s all about trial and error, finding the best way to parent your individual child.

Gentle Parenting Means Setting Consistent Boundaries

One of the most difficult things to do as a parent is to set rules and boundaries for your child and then stick to them. It is so easy to become lax with the rules, though this can have a detrimental effect on your child. Children want boundaries to know what’s ok and what’s not ok. This provides emotional security as well as safety throughout their lives and helps them adapt to new situations with some rules and guidelines in place. Create a gentle parenting plan from the time they are small to have a set of rules to follow to create boundaries as well as a framework for balanced home.

Be Consistent

As far as your rules go, be consistent. Do not punish your child for an action and then the next time they do the same action, ignore it. Consistency is key.

Avoid Being Harsh With Your Discipline

The point of disciplining your child is to teach. The child has done something wrong in which they need to be corrected. Even though you may be mad or upset, help your child learn why the action was wrong and set an appropriate punishment.

Show Respect for your Child

Every person in the world deserves respect, including children. If you treat your child respectively, they will return in kind. Pay attention to how you speak and react to your child as you are an example that they will be following.