How to Be a Patient Parent

Most parents agree that patience is the cornerstone of parenting and is one of the best things you can teach your children. But learning to be a patient parent in our world of overbooked and stressful lives is a challenge for many people. However, following the steps below may help you to become a more patient with your child and a better parent in the end.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Listen to your child. This can be a challenge if your child is young, difficult to understand or prattles on about nothing. But keep one ear on them. If they're telling you they can't do a task, like tying their shoes, maybe they truly can't and need some extra assistance from you. Maybe this time the lesson will stick!
2. Think about your child's age and skills. A 3-year old may not be able to get dressed without a lot of reminders and assistance from you. A 6-year old may need a reminder to water plants or feed pets. Before losing your patience, make sure your expectations are age-appropriate.
3. Give yourself plenty of time to do things that need to be done. It takes children longer to do tasks than adults. Plan extra time into your morning and evening routines to compensate for this so you don't loose your patience rushing to get out the door.
4. Remember your childhood. Remember what it was like to be kid, to want to play with toys, to touch things and yes, even break the rules defined by a parent. Put yourself in your child's shoes for just a minute and maybe you'll find the patience to explain to your child what they did wrong or explain another task again.
5. Take a deep breath and count to ten when you're about to loose your patience. Think about what it is your child did and decide whether your child deserves a consequence or a "talking to." Decide whether you're reacting to what your child did, or whether you're reacting to generalized stress.
6. Take a break. Send your children to their room to play, send them outside or let them watch half an hour of television. Use that time not to do chores, but to re-energize yourself. If you are stressed, hungry or tired, your patience will be much thinner.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't beat yourself up if you loose patience with your child. It's hard to be patient all the time. And when you loose your patience, your child can learn an important lesson from you--no one is perfect.
• When you do loose your patience, try not to yell, scream or berate your child.