Peacefulness is sometimes an elusive goal. As a busy parent it can be difficult to find quiet moments to share your value of peace.
Try these ideas for bringing peacefulness into your home.
Your toddler doesn’t have a lot of language skills. Sharing their big feelings is hard. Here’s what your toddler would say to you if they could. These simple, powerful sentiments will touch your heart.
You are the most beautiful, most perfect person in the whole world.
I look up to you. I am in awe of you. I think you are perfect. I am grateful for you. You are the most amazing thing I have ever seen.
I need you with my whole being, so much that it hurts sometimes.
I have a lot of tough times as I navigate this new, huge world and figure myself out. I need you by my side every step of the way. I rely on you, look up to you, and seek your guidance. Even when it looks like I’m pushing you away, I am always asking for your love.
When we are disconnected, I am confused, and I think it’s my fault.
When things go wrong between us, I am scared, and I don’t know what to do. I don’t have a lot of tools for figuring out conflict, and I’m afraid things will never be right again.
When I want your attention, anything will do.
When I react with glee or mischief even though you yelled at me or pushed me away, it’s not because I’m mocking your anger or trying to manipulate you. It’s because any attention will do, and I don’t know how to get a different kind.
I forgive you. Tomorrow is a new day, and I am ready to enjoy it with you.
I’m always ready for things to be right between us. Even if today was hard, tomorrow I need your love just as much and I’m ready to show you my love the best I can. Let’s start over!
For fun day ideas, try 63 Things to do with your 2 Year Old.
Additional Reading: Toddler Meltdown – 5 Things NOT To Do
Who needs a guide to positive parenting? Maybe we all do. If you’re thinking about making the switch, a guide to positive parenting can really come in handy. But even though I’ve been at it for years, I need a guide to positive parenting now and then, too. I write for myself as much as others, giving myself the advice and resources that keep me on the path I want to be on. For the past month I’ve been writing about making the choice to become a positive parent. Here’s an overview of what we’ve covered.
Learning About Positive Parenting
Here’s where we look at the what it means to be a positive parent, reasons to get started, and sorting out the priorities.
Inspiration To Be A Positive Parent
These posts help put you on the right track to influence yourself to go the direction you want to go.
How To Be A Positive Parent
Here we’ll find some of the details of being a positive parent day in and day out.
What are some questions you have about positive parenting? What else would you like to see on this list, or what other resources would you add?
[color-box]If you’re ready to be a positive parent, I created the Parenting With Connection online course just for you! Through four weeks of study, you will learn the insights, practices, and habits you need to make your relationship with your kids absolutely full of joy, cooperation, and respect.[/color-box]
Need some ways to be a positive parent right this minute? Sometimes my days get stressful, and I’m always looking for those little ways to be a positive parent that are quick, easy, and connect me to my relationship with my son.
Here’s the text version of 70 ways to be a positive parent in case you need to copy them over somewhere. What other ways would you add?
- Get down and play
- Remember to laugh
- Create special moments
- Apologize if you need to
- Tell the truth
- Give hugs and kisses
- Take a break for yourself
- Say YES!
- Use a gentle voice
- Acknowledge their emotions
- Be grateful
- Write them love notes
- Let them take the lead
- Say “I love you”
- Bend the rules together
- Play their favorite game
- Have a dance party
- Tell a joke
- Let it go
- Tell bedtime stories
- Cheer for them
- Give compliments
- Trust them
- Trust yourself
- Pay attention
- Read together
- Take a little extra time
- See the best in them
- Look on the bright side
- Give more choices
- Be a partner and teammate
- Snuggle
- Teach them something cool you can do
- Make eye contact
- Spend time outside
- Give them space if they need it
- Empathize more
- Slow down
- Cook their favorite food
- Say “I’m proud of you”
- Offer to help
- Tell them they’re awesome
- Share important parts of yourself
- Talk about your dreams
- Smile more
- Say “I believe in you”
- Ask them about their dreams
- Hold hands
- Play catch
- Be silly
- Celebrate something
- Ask their opinion
- Hold back criticism
- Be a friend
- Listen carefully
- Say “Thank you”
- Play 20 questions
- Offer gentle guidance
- Model respectfulness
- Believe the best of them
- See from their point of view
- Ask for help when you need it
- Be spontaneous
- Speak with care
- Tell stories together
- Make memories
- Remember to breathe
- Work on healing your past
- Throw a party
- Write love notes
Positive parenting quotes are one tool you can use to positively influence your thinking about your parenting. Here are a handful of MY favorite positive parenting quotes. What would YOU add?
- Every day our children spread their dreams beneath our feet. We should tread softly. -Sir Ken Robinson
- Remember you are not managing an inconvenience. You are raising a human being. -Kittie Franz
- I wish children could grow according to their natural pace: sleep when sleepy, wake up when rested, eat when hungry, cry when upset, play and explore without being unnecessarily interrupted; in other words, be allowed to grow and blossom as each was meant to. -Magda Gerber
- To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is. -Fred Rogers
- It’s not only children who grow. Parents do, too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can’t tell me children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it myself. -Joyce Maynard
- There is no such thing as a perfect parent. So just be a real one. -Sue Atkins
- I’m always amazed when adults say that children “just did that to get attention”. Naturally children who need attention will do all kinds of things to get it. Why not just give it to them? -Lawrence J Cohen
- Nothing that grieves us can be called little. By the eternal law of proportions a child’s loss of a doll and a king’s loss of his crown are events of the same size. -Mark Twain
- Never fear spoiling children by making them too happy. Happiness is the atmosphere in which all good affections grow. -Thomas Bray
- If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn. -Ignacio Estrada
- Your kids require you most of all to love them for who they are, not to spend your whole time trying to correct them. -Bill Ayers
- The point of parenting isn’t to have all the answers before we start out but instead to figure it out on the go as our children grow, because as they do, so will we. -Bridgett Miller
- A child seldom needs a good talking to as much as a good listening to. -Robert Brault
- By loving them for more than their abilities we show our children that they are much more than the sum of their accomplishments. -Eileen Kennedy-Moore
- If your children fear you, they cannot trust you. If they don’t trust you, they cannot learn from you. -Lori Petro
- Children do not need us to shape them; they need us to respond to who they are. -Naomi Aldort
- Behind every young child who believes in himself is a parent who believed first. -Mathew L Jacobson
- Feeling heard and understood allows children to release the feelings, let go and move on. -Janet Lansbury
- It is better to find your children to you by a feeling of respect and by gentleness, than by fear. -Terence
- Children must never work for our love, they must rest in it. -Gordon Neufeld
- Children do well if they can, if they can’t we need to figure out why so we can help. -Ross Greene
- One hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove, but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child. -Forest E Witcraft
- It’s time we stop buying the lie that we need to be hard on kids because “the world is hard”. Love them as hard as you can. That’s what they need. -Tara Vogler
- The most powerful way to change the world is to live in front of our children the way we would like the world to be. -Graham R White
- You must first teach a child he is loved. Only then is he ready to learn everything else. -Amanda Morgan
- Being a mom means choosing to show up day after day and love day after day and give day after day and try day after day and not having all the answers and not being perfect but simply doing your best. -Rachel Martin
- Counteract conflict by connection and communicating calmly. -Kirsty Lee
- Listen earnestly to anything your children want to tell you, no matter what. If you don’t listen eagerly to the little stuff when they are little, they won’t tell you the big stuff when they are big, because to them all of it has always been big stuff. -Catherine M Wallace
- Don’t let yourself become so concerned with raising a good kid that you forget that you already have one. -Glennon Melton
- Children, after all, are not just adults-in-the-making. They are people whose current needs and rights and experiences must be taken seriously. -Alfie Kohn
- There are times as a parent when you realize that your job is not to be the parent you always imagined you’d be, the parent you always wished you had. Your job is to be the parent your child needs, given the particulars of his or her own life and nature. -Ayelet Waldman
- Gentle parenting doesn’t involve instantaneous results, but naturally achieved, life-long lasting results. -Kirsty Lee
- You can’t teach children to behave better by making them feel worse. When children feel better, they behave better. -Pam Leo
- My message is very simple. Love your kids. Just love them. Love, appreciate, show that you value them, remind them of their greatness, encourage them, respect, honor, trust, and treat them with dignity. -Eric D Greene
Positive Parenting Quotes by Rebecca Eanes
Rebecca Eanes has written many wonderful things about parenting, and her books made my list of the best positive parenting books. Here are a handful of positive parenting quotes from her.
- So often, children are punished for being human. They are not allowed to have grumpy moods, bad days, disrespectful tones, or bad attitudes. Yet, we adults have them all the time. None of us are perfect. We must stop holding our children to a higher standard of perfection than we can attain ourselves.
- I believe the worst turn we’ve taken in parenting is that we are always looking for a special trick instead of a special connection.
- Children do not enter this world with bad intentions. The do not come to wear us out, test our patience, or push us over the edge. They come to us with a need for love, connection, and belonging.
- Instead of asking “how do I deal with tantrums?” or “how do I deal with aggression?” or “how do I deal with this sleep problem?” ask “How to help this little person whom I love?” That’s the best starting point for knowing how to help your unique child.
Positive Parenting Quotes by LR Knost
LR Knost also appears on my best positive parenting books list, and of course she’s on my list of positive parenting quotes. I could quote her all day! Here are just 11 of her great positive parenting quotes.
- There are no bad children. There are bad choices. There are bad moments. There are bad days. There are bad situations. But there are no bad children. Period.
- Every day, in a hundred small ways our children ask, “Do you hear me? Do you see me? Do I matter” There behavior often reflects our response.
- Discipline is helping a child solve a problem. Punishment is making a child suffer for having a problem. To raise problem solvers, focus on solutions not retribution.
- One day your child will make a mistake or a bad choice and run to you instead of away from you and in that moment you will know the immense value of peaceful, positive, respectful parenting.
- In your most challenging parenting moments, take a deep breath and try to remember that the moment your child is at their most challenging is the moment your child is struggling with the most challenges.
- The simplest and most effective way to prevent resistance, defiance, and rebellion in our children is to treat them with the same kindness, courtesy, and respect that we naturally give to adults.
- Don’t forget to bring your funny bone along on your parenting journey. Humor is a universal language that topples walls, connects hearts, and open the door to communication and cooperation.
- People always say, “Choose your battles,” in parenting. Let’s choose peace, instead. After all, our children aren’t our enemies, and childhood shouldn’t be a battleground.
- Respecting children teaches them that even the smallest, most powerless, most vulnerable person deserves respect, and that is a lesson our world desperately needs to learn.
- Peaceful parenting is simply treating our tiny humans with the same humanity that we like to be treated with ourselves.
- One day, they’ll walk in your shoes. Make sure they’re pointed in the right direction.
Now tell me: what are YOUR favorite positive parenting quotes? Tell me in the comments or join me on Facebook!
