Learning how to Drop the Worry Ball and Parent More Effectively
One of my biggest fears about becoming a parent was knowing HOW to parent? How do you make sure you do a good job and raise independent, strong and successful children? How do you foster their growth to teach them compassion and empathy? Kids don’t come with an instruction manual, and it can be tricky to find the right balance of supervision & control vs freedom & independence.
As a parent you your #1 instinct is to protect your children, to provide for them, and help them succeed. But what happens if your kids fail? Do you do everything in your power to prevent it, or do you use it as an opportunity to learn?
Drop The WorryBall: How to Parent in the Age of Entitlement the book by Dr. A. Russell & Tim Falconer poised this question, and I found it to be very interesting read. It addressed issues about why parents and educators are working harder than ever to make sure children succeed in life, while putting so little responsibility on the child themselves. Why do parents get so upset if their child does not make the hockey team? Taking it upon themselves to talk to the coach about how great their child is, basically lobbying for their spot. But as pointed out in this book, your children’s failure is NOT your failure, and should not be taken personally as a parent. Instead this could be used as an opportunity to teach your child about practicing and improving skills, and how sometimes you may have to deal with disappointment. But that is not how our society works these days, you child fails a test, it is the teachers fault that they did not do well, as they must not have taught the course material well enough. Instead of families being built WITH children as a integral part of them, now families are being build AROUND the wants and desires of the children.
When did we get so far away from teaching our children to be responsible for their actions that they now feel entitled to succeed. That is one reason I LOVED reading Drop The Worry Ball, this book is not like other parenting books, telling you how to do right by your children. Instead it tells you how you are doing a disservice to them by not letting them take on responsibility for their actions, and passing the worry ball to them to carry.
That is not to say as a parent you will never worry, because as mom’s we are always worried. But what this book talks about is balance between having the parents worry and supporting their children in a healthy manner to help raise resilient and independent kids. Drop The Worry Ball highlights the challenges parents face raising children in todays society and they many ways that failing should be embraced and used as a learning tool, not looked at as parental or child incompetence.
Now here is your chance to Drop The Worry Ball… Enter to WIN a copy of this informative book!
Ends June 25, 2012
Open to Canada Only
Enter using the rafflecopter form below.
Disclosure – I am participating in the Drop the Worry Ball by Mom Central Canada on behalf of Wiley & Sons Canada. I received compensation as a thank you for participating and for sharing my honest opinion. The opinions on this blog are my own.
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I am afraid that I can't teach my kids well enough. I feel bad sometimes for my mistake and feel like I didn't do it well enough. But I have to keep telling myself that mistake is normal and it could happen. I have to learn with them.
I'm afraid when my daughter is born that I may teach her the wrong things, or not enough !
contact emai: tsgiveaways(at)hotmail.com
Like everyone here, I'm afraid of making mistakes, teaching the wrong things, not teaching enough…I also hope she turns into a confident, happy person and that my anxieties and worries don't get projected onto her. LOL!
Consistency! I go back on my own rules too often!
The hardest part of parenting…hmm..balancing work with play. Also parenting a child with special needs is v3ry hard. Taxing, exhausting, draining emotionally and financially.
Letting my daughter figure out how to parent on her own!
choochoopuppy at hotmail dot com