There is a lot to being a parent. Many of us struggle with a constant insecurity that we may not be doing it right.
Trust me…if you love your kids and are giving them the basics, you are doing a great job. (Contrary to the common myth that Dads do everything wrong, which I wrote about in an article on Medium). There are, however, things that can be fine tuned to increase your ability to develop a deep loving connection with your kids.
For example, I teach parents how to attune to their children.
Attuning is one of the most important ways we can make our little ones feel safe. This way of being in relationship is not always natural to a parent. I help parents to learn this type of skill by practicing in session and then bringing it out into their daily lives.
One of the other Training skills I teach is learning how be more playful.
Adults, for much of their lives, may have pushed their playful instinct aside in order to “be an adult.” For young children, play isn’t something they do now and then it is how they live. Play is how children learn to relate, to make sense of their world and to learn limits. For adults this can seem a bit tedious. When parents are able to let go of their inhibitions about being goofy they can get on the floor and develop a healthy connection with their kids.
I also encourage parents to develop a mindfulness practice of a couple of minutes a day.
This to help develop their self-reflective capacity so that they can have greater awareness about their thoughts, feelings and sensations when they are with their kids.