Have you ever tried to put a round peg in a square hole? No matter how hard you try, it just doesn’t fit! I think the same thing occurs in parenting. We expect our children to think like us and, as a result, “act” the way we want, when we want. Our children are not little adults. Their emotions look like ours, but their processing is TOTALLY different! Even in the teenage years, they may look like adults, talk like adults, but their reasoning ability is typically far from parent-like.
Our parenting skills mature over time. The longer we do it, the better we become at it.
REMINDER: Don’t envy others parents. Learn from them. Watch our emotional responses. We are showing our children how to behave during emotional moments. “Do overs” need to be offered to our children and ourselves in the event that we mess up!
By all means…get more rest, get a little exercise/play, take breaks, eat a little better, drink more water and HAVE MORE FUN!
Dr. D
Send your questions for Talkback Tuesday to drdtheparenttrainer@msn.com.
Published by Tamara Dickerson, M.D.
Welcome to my answer to a parenting housecall! I am a practicing pediatrician who has been asked on many occasions to come home with my families. I have been offered wallets (full of credit cards and checks-hehehe!) and even the invitation to, “please take my child for weekend”!
Here is my 21st century version of a house call. This will be as close as I will get to most of you in going home with you. My dream is to provide you some practical and humorous tips to make your parenting journey appear more successful and definitely more enjoyable.
Wisdom Moments is a resource that offers help in those moments when you feel like you are not leading the battle, let alone winning it. In those moments when you just need a little creativity but keep coming up with a blank. When those big ole’ eyes of your child are looking up at you , challenging – are you ready for this?! Instead of gulping and waving the white flag…drop by here for a little bit of parenting encouragement/reinforcement.
Despite the humor I use to share my message, I want to reassure you have heard each request and take them very seriously. What I bring to the table is not only my credentials as an accredited pediatrician, but just as validating is that I, too, am a fellow parent in the trenches with you! So what I have to offer you, I pray, is creative, effective and grounded in truth and reality. This blog will become my way, for now, to be more available to you and to share my parenting pearls. So…a toast to christen this maiden voyage “May we laugh and cry together…may we agree and disagree…may we always encourage each other that our children are worth climbing every mountain, scouring every valley, crossing any desert – to find a parenting pearl that will positively change a course of action for us and them”.
View all posts by Tamara Dickerson, M.D.
Dr. D. The Parent Trainer 