Parenting Advice you Might Want to Skip These Days

Old school rituals, parenting tips, presumptions, and assumptions aren’t valid anymore. But this doesn’t stop your parents, in laws, grandparents, neighbours, well-meaning friends, random strangers from bombarding their parenting knowledge aka ‘gyaan’ on you. As a good listener and frustrated parent, you would hear them, but you just have to go by what will work with your child and what will not. You’re the best judge. The times have changed, mentality has changed and old school approaches just aren’t that valid anymore.

Hence, below are some popular parenting advices that you might want to skip these days:

Popular Outdated Parenting Advices You Might Want to Skip

1. Cover the kid up

Kids are not extra terrestrial beings. They feel cold or heat just as much as you. So if its 35 degrees outside and you are layering him/her up further, the sweat will dehydrate your child further. Stop the layers because the kids feel temperature just like you.

2. Kids sleep better on the stomach

No, kids don’t sleep better on the stomach. In fact, this sleeping pattern has been identified as a SIDS risk. Can you afford to take this chance with this? Don’t try anything new unless advised by the doctor.

3. Working women don’t raise the best kids

Working women tend out to be great examples for their children. They manage their work and life in a disciplined way. Going by their routine, the kids learn independence, importance of organizational skills as well. The kids also learn being on their own and are not constantly relying for support from their parents.

4. Ignore your child when he’s throwing a tantrum

Children can’t regulate or control their emotions; hence they cry and throw a tantrum. They are not manipulating you, but they don’t know how to channelize their feelings. Abandoning a child who is trying to develop reasoning and adapt to logics is not the best approach. You must be emotionally available for your child in these times and provide them an insight about why do they feel that way.

5. Always keep your children busy

Based on this advice, we tend to over schedule our children’s day. They are always busy, always learning and over exhausting themselves. They deserve an unstructured play time to be free and be on their own. You can’t always supervise their schedules and not every moment of their day has to be productive.

6. You can’t rely on external help

There are playschools, nannies, camera viewing technologies and all sort of supervision options to make sure that your child is safe and sound. While no one can love the kid like you, but having a helping supportive hand can assist you in meeting your personal and parental goals together. There are ways you can ensure about your child’s safety and well being. Its time you explore them rather than giving up on the idea of assistance with your child.

7. Ask them to finish all foods on their plate

While finishing the food is a good thing, but instructing the kid to finish it all, even when they are not hungry is not the right approach. They must not indulge in eating more than necessary. What they actually should be taught is taking only as much food as they can eat. 

8. Immediate action on child’s misbehavior

Our reflex actions work their best when our children misbehave. However, taking an immediate action is not necessary. We must contemplate their behavior and look for the reason for their misbehavior. Talking to the child works well too, instead of just taking an immediate action.

With change in time, the approaches also change. It is not necessary that the old-school advices would always stay valid. Sometimes they are just outdated and ineffective. Just know that by changing our approaches many times based on the advices we get, we are messing up our relationship with our children. For them, we turn out to be unpredictable people and they get confused by our reactions. So, listen to everyone, but follow your heart. You can tweak the old rules based on what suits you best. You must trust doctors and pediatricians more than just advices from others.