What is your most effective ‘Parenting-Tip’?

I bet as a parent you will agree with me, that you are on a constant lookout for a new strategy or tips and tricks with your child. I can name a few problems for you, that you might have strategically solved even without realizing. Well most of these are first-hand experiences from family and friends :)

How do I make her wear her diaper now that she has started to roll on her own?

• Let me give her a rattle/doll/any toy
• Teach her to point her nose/eyes as she grows older
• Have a Diaper song — ours was “Dappy dappy do do” :) No points for guessing Dappy= Diaper + Nappy

What new trick will get him off the TV?

• How about having the play-time as the next slot
• Power cut drama — works during day time till they figure out that the Mains still shows red lights blinking
• Time it just before dad returns from work, and in the excitement of seeing dad the kid forgets the TV

What do I do to stop the nail biting habit?

• Cook up a story to tell the side effects with his/her favorite toy as the central character

Can I get him back from the park after play-time without the usual fuss of rolling on the floor and crying?

• Fix on the time of return before you go to the park
• Make the child more responsible, let him have his own watch and ask him what time it is say 15 minutes before time out
• Have an interesting routine following the play time

What new way will make her eat her meals?

• Small rice balls that she can herself pick and eat
• Name every rice ball/Mountain as being given by family members
• Treasure hunt — add some dates/raisins to the cornflakes and get them busy in finding it as you feed them

Most of these are for parents with infants or toddlers or say kids up to 5. The strategist parent doesn’t rest even as the child grows older.

The way to get a preteen/teenager to stop complaining and have a positive outlook.

• Talk to them understand what is their real problem, the influence of friends at this age is massive
• Encourage them to take up a hobby, spend time off the devices and in doing something creative

To explain the value of money to a 6 year old when he demands for the weirdest of biscuits he will never put in his mouth only to get a freebie.

• Tell him how much it costs, what else you could buy with it and why exactly do you think it is a waste of money
• Make them do little chores in the house and earn that pocket money himself

To each his own. These may not be the things that you approve of for your child, but might have worked for someone else’s. Gone are the days when a ‘disciplinary act’ from the parent was the norm. We probably believe in discussing and reasoning with children, call it parenting with kid gloves if you wish.

I believe they learn better this way. No I was not like this from day 1, since our daughter was born. I have had and still have my screaming and disciplinarian drama at times. Thanks to my husband, Rajeev, I could do some self-inspection and am still trying to get better at it.

Is there a strategy/tip that has worked the best for you? I would love to hear from you about your favorite. After all learning from each others’ experiences is the best way of learning isn’t it? :)