Knowing Your Child’s Individual Differences and How to Accept Them (Part One)

Children begin to notice ways in which they are similar or different from a young age. Parents’ attitudes and opinions are huge contributors to accepting themselves or not. Outside of their home, your child’s differences could be accepted or rejected by the society. Either way could affect your child positively or negatively.

Here are some tips on how to accept your children individual differences…

1. Work on Self-Acceptance

If we can accept ourselves it will be easier to accept our children in the same way. It takes practice and perseverance to accept ourselves, but the benefits ripple out to all our relationships. You can’t give what you don’t have, self-acceptance must come first from you.

2. Set a good example.

Remember that children often model adult behavior. What parents and family members say and how they act toward others can directly influence a child’s attitudes, beliefs and interactions with others. Pay attention to what you say in front of your child, and never allow generalizations, hateful expressions or racial jokes in your home.

3. . Learn a little about child development and understand your child’s personality

Most parents discover very quickly that every child comes into the world with their own unique personalities. Take the time to figure out your child’s personality type and find out more about that type. This will help you understand what makes your children tick, how they will relate to you and others, what makes them happy and how different they are from their siblings?

Learning about this makes it so much easier to accept your children and rejoice in the differences. Understanding the ages and stages of your children will help you understand why they behave the way they do. For example, did you know that toddlers are at the stage when they are developing a sense of self, so for them resistance is normal and healthy?

Comparing them with their old sibling won’t be fair. As a parent you should take time out to read books on child development and do adequate research.

4. Confront discrimination. If your child is bullied or teased because of his or her differences reassure your child that he or she is beautiful and loved regardless of what others have said. Teach your child to deal with his/her fears and never create a division amongst your kids. Teach them to stand up for each other despite their differences.

5. Accept their academic/ career choices

In academic/career choices, parents hope and expect that their children will grow up to have amazing and prominent careers. Many families would expect their children to end up with University degrees in prestigious courses such as Finance, Business, Law, Medicine, etc. Graduate school is often an expectation. For one of your children, going to school may not just be in his path.

It might be hard to accept that fact considering the rest of your kids are enthusiastic about their careers and book smart, but you also have to realise that doing what makes the child happy is more beneficial to everyone in the family.

To be continued...