30 PARENTING SKILLS-To parent godly,good and great children,great skills are needed in order to give the world well-behaved and children of characters.Join me as we unravel the Parenting skills.
1.SPIRITUAL GROWTH SKILL: To parent godly,good and great children,all other skills are important,but the most important of them all is their spiritual growth.The level of their spiritual life determine their greatness and the level of peace they will give you in life.Unfortunately,most parents don’t take cognisance of this.Create interest in the spiritual growth of your children,it is very important.Get a home Bible study teacher for them,surround them with spiritual materials like children bible,bible games,bible cartoons,films.Take time to teach them the Word of God and ensure they grow steadily in God.
2.COMMUNICATION SKILL:Your parenting work is incomplete if you don’t understand how to talk to your children in a way that they will get the message with love without having feelings of being hate or threatened.Your communication skill will determine how they will react towards what you are saying.It also determine whether they will love you or hate you.Learn to talk to them in a friendly manner, you don’t need to shout or scream before you can pass a message across.
3.TEACHING SKILL:As a parent,you are the first teacher of your children.You must have better skill of teaching them about God,respect,honesty,hardworking,dedication,vision,focus,house chores,savings,among others.If you don’t have a better understanding of teaching them,they may not take to your teachings.
4.STORY TELLING SKILL:One of the best way to pass across a message across to your children as parents is through story telling.Children love to hear stories.Learn to craft your messages in story format.Whether academic message,Godliness or morals,story telling is the easiest means of passing it across to them and they will grab it with ease.Stop sounding too official,be a story teller and your children will get the message.
5.PLAYING SKILL:If you want to be a successful parents,you must not outgrow playing with your children because they tends to love anyone that play with them.Play games with them,play together with their toys,come down to their level,this will create bond between you.You must not be too big to play with your children.
6.RELATIONAL SKILL :Your relational skill matters a lot if you must raise Godly,good and great children.Your children must not see you as a terrorist,they must not fear your presence.If they are unusually quiet whenever you are around,it means,you are not relating well with them.Relate with them as friends not as a garrison commander.
7.MINISTERIAL SKILL:Every parent must be a minister to their children.You must possess the ability to minister Christ to them,root them in Christ until they become vessels in the hand of God.Your children are your own congregation,learn how to minister to them in a way that they will love the message and they will always want to hear you.
8.FRIENDSHIP SKILL:One of the major error of parents is not to be the friends of their children.Many parents are too officious,dictatorial or harsh towards them thereby losing their children to the waiting arm of the corrupt society.Befriend your children,get closely knitted to them.Take them out,share their sorrow and joy with them,they must not hate you.If you are not their friend now,you may die in loneliness at old age.
RELATIONSHIP SKILL:Guard your relationship with them and teach them how to keep relationships.Bridge the gap between you,call them often,meet their needs,allow them to talk to you,ask you questions and keep their secrets secret.
9.COOKING SKILL:As parents,you must impart your children with cooking ability.Whether male or female,cook for them to see and teach them how to cook.Don’t just teach them,allow them to cook and correct them where necessary.It is a parental failure for you to raise children who can not cook sumptuous meals.Don’t assume they know,teach them and allow them to cook.
10.SIBLINGS MANAGEMENT SKILLS:All parents must strive to build a team among their children.You must not allow sibling rivalry among your children.This is caused majorly when the father or mother love one particular child more than the others.The remaining children who is not loved may develop hatred for the others.Children are not the same,learn to love them equally with their peculiar nature.
11.CONFLICT MANAGEMENT SKILL:There will be misunderstanding among your chidren no matter how you pray.They are known to fight over toys,food,biscuits,candy,football,clothes,shoes,bed,among others.It is your duty to settle it among them without grudge.Always teach them about love for one another and unity.Never take sides and don’t let them have that feeling.
12.PRAYER SKILL:Among other parenting skill,prayer skill is the livewire.Parenting can be difficult without prayer.There is nothing you can not pray for in the lives of your children.Take them to God daily in prayers.Pray for them concerning obedience,character,godliness,academics,friendship,longings,vision,marriage and many more.You can determine the destiny of your children on your knees but unfortunately,many parents are too busy to pray for their children.
13.TRAINING SKILL: Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.(Proverbs 22:6)
Training is exclusively a parental role.So,it should not be delegated.Parents should see it as a divine assignment to train their children.Untrained children of yesteryears are the problem of the society today.Train your children to serve God,do house chores,respect elders,honest,diligence,Chastity,discipline,among others.To have rest tomorrow,create time to train your children today.
14.MONEY MAKING SKILL:Money management is a skill every married couple should develop because almost everything in marriage boils down to money.Learn how to make money legallyand meet the need of your children else they may become rebellious.Also show your children how to make money legally.Be industrious.Teach them to be self reliance.
15.MONEY MANAGEMENT SKILL:Making money is good but managing it is much more important than making it.Don’t be a waster .Manage your funds well and your children will learn from you.Avoid buying food stuffs from your neighbourhood,its costlier.Engage in bulk buying,go to source,and you will save a lot.
16.MARRIAGE SKILL:All parents should be skilful in marriage to make a success out of it. Getting a marriage right require conscious efforts,it doen’t come by chance.Get marriage skill by attending marriage seminars,couples programs,men and women’s program.Also read many marriage books consistently and have a marriage mentor.Marriage become difficult for lack of skill.
17.CHILD REARING SKILL:Child rearing is the cradle of parenting duty.Lots of skill is needed for it.Unfortunately,many parents are lacking in this regard.Get child rearing skill by attending parenting seminar,reading parenting books like:Parenting your baby from the womb,Parenting Toddlers,Parenting Preschoolers,Parenting Grade schoolers.Rear your child the rightway and you will have the right child in the future.
18.CHILD EDUCATION SKILL :Children’s education is so vital that it should not be handled hapharzadly.Right knowledge is required to get the right education for our children.Child education is not just sending your children to the best school but getting the right school with spiritual environment where all the teachers were born again with sound academic policy.School with Christian values.This may not be the best in terms of building structure but it is the best for your children’s education.
19.BOYS MANAGEMENT SKILL:Boys world is a different world.Many parents does not understand this, that is why they are having problem raising them.Boys can be tough and rough but enjoyable if you understand them.You can’t raise boys the way you will raise girls.Take time to study boys by reading books on how to raise boys.Books like Parenting Boys will be of help so as to have peace with your boys tomorrow.Boys can be defiant if you don’t know how to manage them very well.
20.GIRLS MANAGEMENT SKILL: The way you handle your girls determine the kind of daughter you will have.As a parent,you must know what to do to get your daughter talk to you,know the needs of girls,challenges girls face,protecting your daughter from rape,girls and low self esteem and peer pressure.You can definitely raise girls of character.Get a copy of my book:Parenting girls.
21.DISCIPLESHIP SKILL:Though,you may not be a pastor but you must be a discipler of your children.Many parents lose all their children to the world today because they lack discipleship skill.The use of force can not replace discipleship;it will only turn you to an enemy of your children.A disciple is loving,caring,Godly and lead by example.He will not just instruct them to pray or study the Bible,he create time to do it together with them.He corrects in love and not in hatred.
22.PROBLEM SOLVING SKILL;Problem comes without notice in life.So parents should learn how to handle problems.The children could have academic,social,emotional,spiritual or health problems,you must not make the mistake of handling it rightly else the children may lose confidence in you.
23.TEENS MANAGEMENT SKILL;Teenagers are peculiar set of people.Most parents have problem with them because they don’t understand them.Teenagers are neither children nor adults.Teenagers have drive for adventures,which often push them into sex,alcohol,drug abuse,partying,armed robbery,among others.Many parents are facing difficult challenge in handling them.Learn how to raise teenagers from my book:Parenting Teenagers.
24.MENTORING SKILL:Every parenting should know how to mentor their children to a noble deed. The use of force or coercion should not have arise in many home if the parents are good mentors.To be a good mentors,you have to befriend your children,play with with them,be positive in your attitude to your spouse and people around you.Reward good deeds.Let them see you demonstrate kindness,pray and read the Bible.Then teach them how and correct them in love when they fail.
25.LEADERSHIP SKILL:Be a great leader if you must raise great leaders in your children.We lack true leaders of tomorrow among most children today beacause leadership qualities has not be inculcated to them at home.Don’t be a boss or a dictator at home,be a man or woman of influence.Leadership is about influence.
26.HOME MANAGEMENT SKILL:Parents must possess home management skill and you must inculcate it in your children too.You must have ability to make the environment neat and tidy.Ability to manage people,materials and resources.
27.LISTENING SKILL;Many parents don’t have clue to what is happening to their children because they don’t have a listening hear.Don’t just command your children,give them a listening hear too.
28.PATIENT SKILL:Children are not adults.So,don’t expect perfect performance from them.They will make mistakes due to their present level.Don’t just beat or shout on them.Ask for the grace to be patient with them.
29.HOMELINESS SKILL:You can do parenting by phone,post or e-mail,no.You have to be there with.Whatever you want to see in your children tomorrow,create time to at home with them to put it.
30.SEX EDUCATION SKILL:Be the first to give your children sex education.Don’t let a sex predator introduce them into it.Educate them about public and private parts,Why it should not be touched by anybody.But many parents are too shy to do this.Get copies of my books:Parenting Boys,Parenting Girls to be able to know how to do this.
Culled from my book:Excellent Marriage Training Manual Vol.5
