PARENTING THURSDAY: Come Alive (Revisited and Remixed Post)

How can we find ways to enhance the good and positive things in our parent-child relationships?

Have you found that the daily frustrations, character flaws, and annoyances in your child seems to pop up everywhere and overwhelm nearly everything, and often during the most inconvenient times? 

It is possible that you are watering the weeds instead of the flowers. 

Watering the flowers can look like deliberately looking for positive qualities in your child that you can verbalize. Finding ways to feed your soul, your child, and your relationship with gratitude, appreciation, respect, and positive expectation can lead to significant benefits: Your perspective of your children can immediately reflect what you are choosing to attend, you may notice that "the weeds" or negative qualities or characteristics become less intense, happen less frequently, and seem to lose their prominence in the life of your relationship. 

Try this: Begin today to start a few sentences each day with "I notice..." and follow it with something positive about what you see, hear, or experience in your child.

For example: 

I noticed...that you chose to wipe the counters after dinner. Thank you. 

I just noticed...that you put your hand out for me to hold it while we were walking. Thank you for letting my]e know you were feeling unsafe. 

I noticed...that you hung your coat up and put your bag away after school. Thank you for taking care of our home. 

I have noticed...that you showered really well - you smell so clean! Thank you for taking responsibility for your own body. 

Catch them being GOOD.