Finding Balance as a Parent: Belonging
January 3, 2018
Do you want to be the parent that every child wishes they’d have? Your child needs to have someone who is caring and shows it; someone who pays attention to them and what they do; and someone who isn’t afraid to say I love you. You can be that parent!
Trying to be the best parent you can be will be great for both your child and you. Indigenous culture values the teachings of the medicine wheel which calls for BALANCE in all ares of our life: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. This belief in BALANCE can also be used in parenting so that we are paying attention to many things when raising a child, not just feeding and clothing them. We are using the work BALANCE to list some of the important areas that should be focused on when raising a child. This can help you to think about what you loved about the way you were raised or what you would have liked to have more of. Thinking about this will help you look through your child’s eyes so that you better understand how paying attention to these areas will help your child grow up to be a happy, safe, and healthy person.
Balance is important in all areas of our lives: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
Balance is important in all areas of our lives: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
BELONGING
Your child must feel that they have a family that cares about them and a safe healthy place to be themselves. If they don’t grow up feeling like they belong, they may go somewhere else to find a place to belong, such as partying with friends, gangs, or with older people who will use their loneliness and unhappiness to get them into a relationship or doing things they wouldn’t usually do, such as drinking, doing drugs, running away, or bullying others.
To see more in this series of parenting tips, click “Parenting” below.