Heart4kidsadvocacyforum's Blog

I can hear my mother saying to us as children, “I will always love you, but sometimes I don’t like your ways”!  We have to be honest with ourselves and with our children.  We have to be intentional about observing their interactions with other children so that we know when we need to intervene and call out negative behavior.  We never say things to our children in front of other people and children that will embarrass them.  We have to create a protocol that we use that alerts our child that what they are doing is not “alright” and we-parent and child need to retreat to “chat” and “reflect”. 

We don’t want our children to bully other kids and we don’t want our children to be bullied.  We have to arm our children with a knowingness that they are “good” people, and that they are worthy of people’s respect and kindness.  We want them to be with people and in situations that afford them the opportunity to be their authentic selves that make them feel happy fully engaged.  We have to give them the emotional bandwidth that fortifies their ability to understand that there will be times that other children will not want to play with them or say things that could hurt their feelings. 

We need to teach them to shake it off -and that will take a lot of practice and support- but gaining this tool will impact how they deal with these kinds of experiences as adults.  We want to empower them to be able to stand in their truth that they are always “enough”!  We want them to know that they don’t have to compromise who they are for anyone’s attention and engagement.  We are supporting them in liking themselves, loving themselves, and being ok knowing that not everyone is going to want to be their friend- and that is really ok!  There are always possibilities for new experiences and new friends to play with. Well then in I think it is our responsibility as parents and caregivers to make sure those opportunities come their way.