Struggling with Parenting? Begin with You
Parenting is hard work. At times it can be overwhelming, lonely, exhausting, discouraging, exciting, joyful, rewarding, encouraging, and fun within just a few short minutes. The wide range of emotions you feel from excitement over watching your child finally ride a bike without training wheels to paralyzing fear as they ride that bike straight into an on-coming car is enough to drive you into some unhealthy potato-chip-eating-addiction. Yet despite the stress, you couldn’t imagine your life without your kids and you try hard to be the very best parent.
So you read lots of parenting books, talk to friends, and listen to experts on how to be a better parent. But how much time have you invested in understanding your natural parenting style? Yes, how you were raised has a lot to do with how you parent both good and bad, but you are also born with a personality style that is directly comparable to your parenting style. When you understand your personality and parenting style (and perhaps more importantly, your spouse’s style), you will naturally be a better parent.
Active. It is easy to tell if you are an active parent just by looking at your family calendar. Is it full of too many things to do with not enough time? Do you find that when you have some down time as a family, you want to go and do something rather than just sit at home? As an active parent, your favorite questions will be centered around the word “Who”. Who else is going? Who are your friends? Who do you want to be? Active parents have a lot of energy, are exciting to be around, and adventurous but they usually over commit or don’t follow through with promises.
Bookkeeper. Imagine an invisible ledger which details all of the gifts, grades, thank-you notes, kind acts, punishments, harsh words, phone calls, and hugs for each child. Now imagine trying to keep that ledger in balance so that one child is not favored over another, so gifts are equally divided, and punishment is equally distributed. This is the bookkeeper parent who can do such a task in their head. As a bookkeeper parent, your favorite questions will be centered around the word “How”. How are you going to do that? How do you feel? How did you get that done? Bookkeeper parents are very fair, diplomatic, and loyal but can easily get their feelings hurt in the process of parenting.
Cautious. Danger lurks behind every corner which is precisely why a cautious parent is so careful about what they say, do or act because you would never want to be irresponsible about anything in front of your child. Setting a proper example for your child in behavior, thought, and control of emotions is important to you. As a cautious parent, your favorite questions will be centered around the word “Why”. Why did you do that? Why didn’t you finish that? Why aren’t you doing it this way? Cautious parents are detail oriented, analytical, and perfectionists but when pushed they can become irrationally moody and over explain.
Direct. There is no beating around the bush with a direct parent; whatever they are thinking will be stated in a short period of time and not always at the most opportune moments. There is no question as to who is in charge if you are a direct parent, you are and your child knows it. As a direct parent, your favorite questions will be centered around the word “What”. What are you doing? What are you trying to accomplish? What is your point? Direct parents are goal oriented, focused, and motivating but they can easily overpower a child and miss an opportunity for tenderness.
Knowing your style of parenting compared to your spouse’s style might just be the life-saver you need in preparation for your next parenting argument. All of these styles have good, bad and ugly elements as one style is not better than another. Rather, a child does well when all styles are represented and a more balanced approached to parenting is taken.
There is hope for your exhaustion. Repairing, restoring, and rebuilding relationships takes time, energy and effort. If you find yourself needing more help during this process, please call our offices at 407-647-7005 to schedule an appointment. Or you can send me a quick email at chammond@lifeworksgroup.org.
Posted under: Parenting Writings from Christine
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