Abundance of Information Needs to Be Sifted Out

With the abundance of information available, it can be quite perplexing when it comes to sifting out what works and what does not. How are parents to know which advice to follow, and when to rely on plain old common sense? Do experts who offer parenting advice really know what it is like to be a parent in a real home?

Parents may need to try RPM3 which is a no-frills approach to parenting that has been developed over thirty years by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development or the NICHD. They have spoken to experts, parents as well as children and collected statistics, identified myths as well as tested suggestions to come with the RPM3.

For parenting advice, using RPM3 guidelines will help to separate useful information from the less useful pieces of information and advice to enable parents make their own parenting decisions, and these guidelines are not based on stories about people’s thinking about parenting, but incorporates thirty years of NICHD research to let parents know what really works.

The RPM3 Method

RPM3 stands for Responding, Preventing, Monitoring, Mentoring, and Modeling. It teaches parents to respond to the child in an appropriate manner and advises them to prevent risky behavior or problems and nip them in the bud, if possible. It also advocates monitoring the child’s contact with his or her surrounding world, and mentor the child to support as well as encourage desired behaviors as also model the parent’s own behavior to give to the child a consistent, positive example that he or she can relate to and emulate.

Nevertheless, there is still plenty of information available that provides age-appropriate parenting advice and which helps parents take care of their children. Some of the frequently mentioned topics include nutrition, safety, common problems and what to expect at the pediatrician.

Moms and Dads often need parenting advice that will help them deal with common problems such as sibling rivalry, potty training, getting the child to sleep at night as well as managing behavior problems and temper tantrums. There are many qualified experts out there that deal with such topics and who will be best suited to get parenting advice from for all manner of child rearing issues. Using the RPM3 guidelines and the different parenting advice available should help parents sift the useful from the not-so-useful advice to become sensible and loving parents.

There are some courses for parenting in high school and college but these are limited in their curriculum.  Some high schools have a course where the students are required to carry around an egg for several days to provide parenting tips of what having an infant to care for is like.  But if caring for an infant simply entailed preventing the shell from being cracked while performing life’s daily activities, parenting would be a lot easier.  Becoming a parent is the hardest thing to prepare for.  Each child is an individual and will require different love and nurturing than any other child.

The most basic parenting tip for the new parent is ‘Do not panic’.  This may seem humorous but is actually quite a practical parenting tip.  Babies respond to the environment and attitude around them.  As a parent, remaining relaxed and calm will help the infant to be relaxed and calm.  This can be hard to do as a new parent but must be achieved to keep the home more peaceful for everyone.

It is good if the new parent can have help, for a short time, from an older experienced parent who is calm and self-assured.  Most of the time, one of the grandmothers of the infant will stay with the family to offer parenting tips and support.  New parents need to be ready to accept this help.  If the grandparents are not available, other support can be found from a neighbor or perhaps an older person in ones church.  Some hospitals may have a list of volunteer “grandparents” that will help new parents.

Parenting Tips for the Future

The most important parenting tip for the lifetime of the parent is to realize that the child is going to make mistakes.  This is easily said but often harder to deal with in reality.  Being a parent is about helping the child avoid the most dangerous mistakes and handling failures and successes.  This begins with teaching a child the stove is hot and continues into their adulthood with career and family decisions.  Many small children, after told the stove is hot, will reach up and touch it.  As a parent, be ready with cold water for the burn and then reinforce the teaching.

A parent shouldn’t berate the child for doing what is a natural response.  A parent just needs to begin to teach the child that a parent has instruction which is valid for life.  This experience may help the child to realize that when given instruction about more dangerous things such as drugs, alcohol, and premarital sex the instruction is probably worth listening to.  No one enjoys a burnt finger and the child will want to prevent further pain.

A Critical Parenting Question – Talking about Sex

This is one parenting question that has bothered parents from time immemorial. This is because when you try to explain how children are made, you know that the child will conjure a picture of you and your partner having sex. However, it is true that sex-education should be imparted to the children from a very tender age. What exactly should that tender age be is a controversial parenting question, but some think it should start as early as the child is aware about his body parts.

Sex education is not always about sex. It is, in most cases, about bringing about awareness that the body is sacred and that it totally belongs to the child. Once this basic concept is instilled, then sex education has a solid platform/ foundation to build upon. As the child grows, the function of each part of the body should be explained in simple terms. The aim of this exercise should be to make the child comfortable with the parts of the body and internalize that there is no such thing as ‘shameful parts’.

You will find that the most common parenting question here is on how to teach the child about the right and wrong touch. This is one parenting question, which is indeed critical to answer. Research says that children are born with an alarm that usually goes off when things begin to go wrong. What parents should teach their child is to listen to that alarm, and take immediate action when it goes off.

Children are basically shy and respectful of adults. Hence, unless so taught, they might not raise an alarm even when they feel there is something very wrong in the way they are handled. By letting them know that it is not only okay to talk to your parents about anything, it is highly recommended and something that will make their parents be able to ward off the danger and keep them safe.