How to be a positive role model for your kids! 3 Simple tips to support parents as role models!

Welcome back to Best Case Parenting. Today, we explore the idea of being a positive role model for your children! ​​​

I am sure you will agree, young kids need help with making good choices. This is a key skill that will serve a child well for the rest of their lives! After all, life is all about making choices…and hopefully good ones!

What is the best way for parents to do this? Well you need to be the ultimate role model for your child. When they look at you, they need to see “making good choices” in action on a daily basis. Your child needs to see parents as role models. How to be a positive role model?

A young child loves to copy what they see adults do around them. Therefore, your child will pick up a lot of their early traits from you. This means being a positive role model for them is essential. You need to constantly feel like you are looking at yourself in the mirror. Always be aware of how you come across to your child.

What traits are your children picking up from you? Be a positive role model!

Do you often moan and complain in front of your child. Do you often show anger to your child or regularly talk in a negative way?

If you do, you are essentially telling your child that this type of behaviour is OK. You need to model and re-enforce positive behaviour instead!

As the well known saying says “do as I do not as I say.”

Here are some simple tips that will help you be a positive role model to your child on a daily basis!! These will help you understand how to be a good role model for your kids!

Be selective with your use of anger. Showing anger to your child is fine, but it should only be done in a controlled and selective way. Then, when you do get angry, it will have a real meaning. Don’t let anger take over, make sure you are calm inside when displaying anger. Otherwise, you risk encouraging such negative behaviours as hitting, screaming and cursing. These are all things you shouldn’t want your child to pick up.

Don’t get too emotional!  You need to be aware that a young child can be heavily affected by their parents emotions. If they see you crying uncontrollably, for example, this impact could be hard for them to take. Of course, model appropriate displays of emotions when serious problems occur. However, try not to get too emotional of normal everyday problems.However, it’s usually better to tone it down around very young children so as not to upset them.

Young children are surprisingly sensitive to their parent’s emotions and may face strong negative feelings if you share your sadness too much.

Your child’s life will be a direct reflection of yours. It is truly amazing how much children pick up from their parents, even from a young age. Don’t be fooled into thinking they are too young too be influenced by your behaviour! This can include such things as your eating culture, your approach to sleep, your weight and even how much you smoke or consume alcohol. Your children are building up a perfect picture over time. This picture is a model of your life, and it will directly influence how they live their life. Make sure to always be a positive role model to your child from a young age.

It is like you are sending a mini version of yourself into the world!

Maybe this is a slightly weird way to phrase it, but it is definitely a fact that your child’s life will be directly modeled on that of their parents.

As they enter the world, they will start replicating the behaviour they have witnessed from home. It could be when they first go to school, when they have their first sleep over! As your child gets older, they will spend more and more time aware from you. Therefore, you want them showing that positive behaviour you have modeling throughout their childhood.

By being an excellent role model, you are preparing your child to do the best they can in their life outside of their first family home.

I am not asking you to be controlling and force your child down a certain path. They need to explore the world and make their own choices. But by exposing them to positive role models at home, you are ensuring that the quality of those choices will be good.

It’s like you are a family of birds! Your home is like the bird’s nest. While your child is there, you should be preparing them to be the best they can be. Then, one day, they will be ready to fly off on their own.

Your good choices will likely mean your child will make good choices too! You can’t be around your child forever, so this is how you can help them in the long term.

Being a consistent excellent role model for your child growing up, will naturally help them act appropriately as they grow up. However, if you don’t do this and try to force appropriate behaviour on them later, you will more than likely face a lot of resentment.

If your child feels too restricted growing up, they will likely rebel against those restrictions. When you have brought them up in a positive environment, you shouldn’t have to put so many restrictions on them. They should naturally be able to make good choices.

By being a consistent and excellent role model at home, your child will actually feel proud to replicate your behaviour. And you will be raising a child that can safely make their own way in the world.

What are your ideas about parents as role models? How do you go about being a positive role model for your kids? We would love to hear about it in the comment section below!