One of the most important things you should learn as a parent is understanding your child.
Every child is different, and when parents understand their children, their development, needs, and uniqueness, their relationships with their children generally improve, resulting in less conflicts as children grow and mature. Here are some helpful tips for you to better understand your child!
Careful Observation
To understand a child, you have to learn about their experiences—observation is key. Pay attention to their actions, expressions, and moods. Take time to understand and notice your child’s unique way of being in the world. Be sure to observe with curiosity and without judgment!
In this article, we talked about the importance of staying alert to your baby's cries and checking on him/her daily. Consider how you can transform your daily physical check to a careful observation of your growing child's facial expressions and body language.
Quality Time Together
Meaningful connections are about quality of time, not quantity of time. However, the old adage "you cannot get quality time without quantity" certainly rings true for parent and child relationship. If you want to understand your child, you need to ensure that time spent with your child is of high quality. You and your child could read a book, play a game, or just laugh and be silly together! Just be sure to turn off technology—show your child undivided attention and how important your time together is.
Make it a point to set aside regular time to bond with your child through activities that they enjoy. These can include meals together, reading or working on a project together.
Talk (and listen too!)
Engaging in conversations with your child helps you to understand what is happening in their life. You could ask about their favourite song or cartoon character, or learn about their likes and dislikes. Pay attention to what they are trying to convey through verbal cues such as choice of words and intonation, and non-verbal cues like body language and expressions. Instead of asking questions that garner a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response, ask questions which allow your child to share more. Most importantly, be sure that your child feels heard. Acknowledge, respond, and show that you are interested in the conversation.
Encourage your child to share his/her thoughts and feelings with you. When the child is sharing his/her feelings, try and match your response to the intensity of his/her emotion. If he/she is happy, show your happiness too! If he/she is sad, show empathy towards his/her hurt feelings. Be aware of your tone of voice and body language, do not be sarcastic, naggy or too authoritative. All these might cause the child to turn away.
Make Room for Imagination
Children express themselves in numerous ways. When your child expresses and interest, go with it! Try not to give directions, allow them to freely explore ideas and activities that help them to express themselves. When your child engages in activities such as drawing, acting, singing, or journaling, take their efforts seriously and show interest in their creations. Encourage your child to share about their creations by asking questions. Through these conversations, you may understand your child better.
Do not compare
Try not to compare your child's performance with others as this will promote unhealthy competition or even result in resentment towards you. Children need a safe space to express their feelings without being judged. Instead of comparing to other children, make a conscious effort to direct your child's efforts to improve his/her performance against his/her past performance/mistakes.
Understand the Challenge
We understand that understanding your child is no easy feat. It takes time, effort, and patience. Always remember that the efforts that you make to understand your child will serve to develop them into healthy, happy adults!
At Nurture Infant House Tampines, we have received much positive feedback from parents who have sent their children to our infant care/childcare. Our children have developed well and many of them are well-adjusted in primary school. Some even do very well academically!
Do check it out for yourself and click here to learn more about our infant care centre.
If you have any questions, we would be happy to share more information with you.
Nurture Infant House (Tampines) At Nurture Infant House, our passion is to love and care for each infant and to provide a safe and interactive environment for infants to learn and grow in body and in mind independently. If you are looking for infant care in Tampines or in East, do visit Nurture Infant House. We have over 30 years of experience in nurturing thousands of infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers.
If you are looking for a preschool for toddlers and older children in Tampines or in East, do visit Genesis Childcare 1989.
Feel free to book an appointment through WhatsApp. You can visit us at the following venues:
Nurture Infant House (Tampines) (2 to 18 months Infants) Blk 433 Tampines Street 43 #01-61 Singapore 520433
Tel: 96664141
Genesis Childcare 1989 (Tampines)
Blk 433 Tampines Street 43 #01-63/65 Singapore 520433
Tel: 96664141