Military Parenting Help

Military families go through a lot when one of the parents is deployed overseas.  This can create a major strain on the spouse that is left behind to handle raising the children.  Not only does the spouse need to do everything for the kids alone, but also has to deal with the worries that their spouse could be in harm’s way.  There is parenting help available for our military families.

Saying Goodbye

Saying goodbye to a loved one is never an easy thing to do.  It’s even harder to say goodbye to a mother or father who will be away for many, many months.  This can cause stress for the children, and they may act up at home and at school.  Parenting help advisors believe that this is a relatively normal reaction to feeling abandoned.

You can help your children handle these feelings.  Oftentimes, just letting the children express their feelings can work wonders.  Kids often feel that the child-parent relationship gets put on hold when his or her parent leaves for active duty.  This is a valid point.  You’ll need to explain that Mommy or Daddy loves them more than anything, and that is why Mom or Dad is in the military to ensure that they will always be safe and sound.  

Internet Contact

Most military spouses use email or Skype to stay in contact with their mates.  Parenting help advisors suggest that the children be able to have some alone time with their parent on Skype too.  The child-parent relationship is already strained, and this is a great way to strengthen the bond between parent and child.  Many young parents use Skype to show their spouse a new baby once it has been born.  Although a video isn’t the same thing as being there, parenting help experts believe that is the next best way for kids to maintain the child-parent relationship with the Mom or Dad in the military.

Snail Mail

Many military spouses have foregone the use of snail mail for communications with their loved ones.  Sure, email is quicker, easier and cheaper but it really doesn’t give the person overseas something to touch and feel.  One of the finest parenting help suggestions is to have the children draw pictures for their parent.  Every parent oohs and ahs over pictures that their kids draw.  The parent away serving our country shouldn’t have to miss out on that.  Making something special for their Mom or Dad can enhance a child-parent relationship.

Care Packages

Every member of the military loves receiving care packages from home.  Military parenting help experts suggest allowing your kids to help decide what should go into the care packages.  Let them think about their personal child-parent relationship, and come up with something special that would be meaningful for their Mom or Dad to receive.

It could be something as simple as a package of a snack that they liked to share or as thought provoking as a photo of the fishing spot that they frequent.  Let the child decide what would remind their Mom or Dad how special their child-parent relationship is to them.

Plan for Their Homecoming

 Planning for the parent’s homecoming should include the children’s ideas, according to parenting help experts. This will get the kids excited about reestablishing the physical side of the child-parent relationship.  Young parents with small kids might want to create artwork for the party with painted prints of their children’s hands.  Older kids can help make signs and decorate with balloons and crepe paper.  The options are endless.  The only thing that will matter to your children is that they have their Mom or Dad back home with them.  That’s the best homecoming gift of all.

Using Wisdom to Correct Child Behavior

Currently, most people think that with all the technology and advancements that we enjoy, people should have no problems finding ways to correct unacceptable child behavior. It’s true that there are tons of outlets for finding tips for parents and child development advice. Many people have gone that route, and have turned their ways of thinking around and decided that raising kids in the old school way is best.

The morals and lessons of times gone by will help you to raise happy, healthy, well-mannered children. In the 1860’s or even 1950’s, it was rare to see a child talk back or even question a parent’s authority, without the parent spanking their child. Old school rules can bring back those happier family times.

Improving Your Child’s Self-Esteem

Many kids suffer from low self-esteem. This can occur from a variety of reasons, including living in a verbally abusive environment, excessive shyness or bullying. Of course, there are other reasons that kids can have self-esteem issues, but you must recognize the child behavior that could lead to more problematic behavior.

Children need to feel that they are needed and worthy members of the family. Many child behavior experts believe that assigning chores that the kids can actually accomplish can boost their self-esteem in a big way. In days of yore, even the smallest of children had things that they needed to do, and these small tasks helped to increase self-esteem and reduce unwanted child behavior.

The Rebellious Preteen

Most parents dread the teenage years, but never even realize that the preteen years can be worse. Preteens tend to have bigger and nastier attitudes than full-blown teenagers, because they are no longer considered little kids but aren’t quite young adults. They just don’t know where they fit into the world.

Preteens can often have strange reactions to normal questions and conversations such as, “How was school today” or “Where were you”. These normal questions can create child behavior that is unacceptable for the household. If day-to-day questions set off your child, you might need to consider signing up for parenting classes. Parenting classes can help you learn to deal with your child’s individual issues, and help them to succeed in life.

Inappropriate Child Behavior

Dealing with inappropriate child behavior problems can really put a major strain on parents. The stress increases if the parents have different parenting styles. It is confusing to a child when he or she receives mixed signals from the parents. Consistency is the key to teaching your child how to behave in all situations.

Marital problems can even occur because of conflicting parenting styles. This usually happens when one parent enforces the rules and the other allows the child to break some of them. If a child isn’t allowed to jump on the bed and the lenient parent ignores it, this could cause a rift, as the disciplinarian would need to take control of the situation. Forcing one parent to be the "bad guy" can really strain the marriage as well as the family relationship.

The best way to correct inappropriate child behavior is through the use of positive discipline. Taking away the child’s ability to attend a special outing or banning the use of a toy or video game can correct unwanted behaviors. However make sure that you are gentle and yet firm with the children. After a while, the mere threat of taking something away will immediately remind your child that you expect nothing less than exemplary child behavior.