Being a mom can be tough. There’s a lot involved when raising a child or children! Learn tips for how to be a good mother to your children!
In society today, many children are, unfortunately, left alone at home to raise themselves. According to Frances Kemper Alston at the NYU Child Study Center and author of the article, “Latch Key Children,” posted at education.com, as many as five to seven million children, ranging in age from five and 13 years old, are latch key kids (children left at home unsupervised) on a daily basis either before or after school hours.
Latch Key Children and What You Can Do for Them
Many children become latch key children as a result of their mothers having to raise their children on their own. In addition, many women, although married, have to work to help maintain the households financially.
Latch key children, however, tend to do poorly in school and, often, get into more trouble than necessary due to being alone and not having a parent present to monitor, train, and discipline them.
Nonetheless, whether you are a mother who cannot afford to be at home with your children because you have to work or just a mother looking for ways to be a better mother, there are a few things that you can do to be the best possible mother that you desire to be for your children.
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If you are a mother who has to work to help meet your family’s financial needs, asking a loving neighbor or family member whom you feel you can trust to help you with your children may be an option for your family. Find out if your children can stay at your neighbor’s or family member’s home to make sure that they are fed, doing their homework and are monitored on a daily basis
How to Be a Good Mother to Your Children
When you are at home with your children, the following suggestions will help you to succeed at being the good mother that you desire to be.
During the times that you are not working, be sure to spend quality time with your children and have fun together. Participate in their activities at school and after school as often as you can.
Allow your children to talk to you and share with you the things that are on their minds. Being a good mother also means listening to your children with caring ears. If you listen to them with sincere concern, you are showing them that you really care even though you may not always know the answer.
Be a positive role model before your children. No one is perfect, but you should seek to live a life that will bring you honor and a life that your children can be proud of and desire to model after.
If you believe in God, you should teach your children the fear (honor, respect and reverence) of the Lord. Teach them the importance of reading the word of God so that they can seek and obey God’s will for their lives.
If you are married, allow your children to see the sincere love that you have for their father. In witnessing the love that you have for your husband, your children will discern that love and respect is vital in a marriage. This will, also, help your children to learn how to be caring and affectionate mates, themselves, when they are old enough to be married as well as help them to recognize when someone really loves them or not.
Children require moral and ethical training and this training should come from their parents. Therefore, as a mother, you have to be a parent to your child, not just a friend. You should, definitely, be a friend when he needs you to be, but overall you are your child’s mother and you are responsible for teaching your children good moral standards. If you are a parent who has to work, do not allow guilt from not being able to stay at home with your children prevent you from disciplining your children when you need to. Your child should not be allowed to do whatever he wants when he feels like it. Disciplining your child is a necessary part of being a good mother.
A good mother teaches her children to be caring and helpful to others. Train your children to be respectful of others just as they desire to be respected by others. Therefore, teach your children not to be selfish or arrogant but confident individuals, instead, in order to accomplish their set goals in life.
Teach your children to respect their elders, also. In doing so, you are teaching your children to respect you as well. You are, furthermore, preparing them to be caring children toward you, their mother. When you grow older, you may need your children to take care of you in some way, but selfish children do not help their parents. So, you will do well to teach them to be respectful, caring and helpful individuals. Help them to understand, also, that they will expect children to respect and honor them as their seniors and leaders when they grow older.
When your children are doing well in school or in other endeavors, encourage them. It is easy for us, as parents, to see and point out the negative, but we must, also, make it a point to pay tribute to our children when they do things well.
Unfortunately, we cannot trust everyone in this walk of life; therefore, it is important to teach your children that not everyone can be trusted. Let them know that, even though, you expect them to be a trustworthy and honest person, not everyone chooses to be an honest person.
Teach them to be watchful of dishonest people and not to be too trusting of strangers. Let them know that they should not get into the vehicles of strangers nor go any place with them. Your children should, also, be informed about who they are allowed or not allowed to get in cars with or go places with even if they know the person.
It’s not always easy being a mother. We don’t always do everything right, but if you keep love in your heart and follow goodness yourself, you will be a good mother, overall, to your children.