Parenting Post
By Sarah Chana Radcliffe
Inappropriate friends can spell trouble for your child....
What can you do to help your child not choose “inappropriate” friends? Provide general education about friendship on a regular basis ‑ dinner time chat for instance. Talk about how some people raise us up, some are fun and restorative for us, some are loyal and supportive companions, some are helpful and so on. Within that conversation, you can naturally discuss how some people lower our aspirations and our moods and can affect us negatively in other ways as well. “Friendship education” is most helpful when it is presented casually rather than as some sort of parenting lecture.
Things go wrong every single day. There’s plenty to complain about....
Talking about how hard, stressful or awful your day was on a regular basis, isn’t good for you, your spouse or your kids. YOU simply pour more stress chemistry into your body when you tell the story. Your SPOUSE gets a dose of that stress chemistry too just by listening to it. Your CHILDREN learn that life is painful and full of suffering. Instead, do yourself and your family a favor by sharing the positive highlights of your day ‑ lifting everyone’s mood, and calming everyone’s nerves.
