The Why

Negotiation is a valuable tool to use with your kids because helps them develop some important skills. Most notable are:

• Increased capacity to express thoughts and feelings verbally
• Enhanced ability to think objectively and discriminatively
• Skills in cooperative problem-solving
• Self-awareness
• Consideration of other’s needs as well as their own
• Coming up with creative solutions

This week's blog isn't about how to parent. Most of my blogs do focus on that in one way or another, but this week I just want to remind parents of how important they are, and to give them some props. It's a job that gets so little in the way of public affirmation, and all to often, plenty of criticism when things go wrong.

Here's what we should all remember:

Parents of younger kids often dread the late afternoon/early evening hours between 5PM and 7PM. It’s a time of transition. You're getting off work, picking up the kids from school, day care, or sports practice, and coming back home.

It’s a heavy workload time too. Dinner has to be prepared and eaten, homework started, and baths taken. Everyone’s tired. The kids are often irritable, whiny, and unruly. Parents are usually exhausted and stressed. Some parents call it the Arsenic Hour, and many call it the Witching Hour. Either way, it’s not an easy time.

This subject came about from my listening to Tony Robbins’ book called “Unlimited Power.” If you haven’t ever listened, it is a treat, not to mention really full of valuable information.

In the course of the program, Tony talks about how we view failure, and how that view becomes a stumbling block to progress. He suggests that instead of using the word failure, we should substitute the word “results” or “outcomes.”

“Parenting” and “Perfectionism” are two words that should never be used in the same sentence. There is really no room for perfectionism once you become a parent. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive to do your best, but the truth is that all close relationships involve ups and downs, emotional messiness, and give and take. An intimate relationship is a dance, and a parent-child relationship is definitely an intimate relationship.