Being there for your kids - Developmental Stage Influence on Parenting

Episode Date: March 14, 2020

Parenting tip #6 for parenting success is this: Be aware of developmental stage influence. Parenting is tough enough without taking in all the extraneous variables. One of those variables is developmental stage influence. Throughout our lives, we are in one developmental stage or another. Sometimes, these stages collide with each other if the family. For healthy, positive parenting, know both what developmental stage influences there are in play both for your child and for yourself.

Hi, I'm Dr. John Robinson, and this is Teachable Moments. Let me ask you, what's yours and your child's developmental stage? Recently, I posted my top 10 tips for parenting success. Now I'm elaborating on each item on the list. Parenting tip number six is this. Be aware of developmental stage influence. Where we are in our life stages affects who we are and how we act. For healthy, successful parenting, we need to embrace both ours and our child's, developmental stage. No, two-year-old Chloe pushed her cereal bowl away from her. She slashed the milk over the side of the bowl as she did so. She turned her head defiantly away from her mother, Jasmine. Now look what you've done, mom exploded. See what a mess you made? Chloe's eyes widened and filled with tears at her mom's outburst. This kind of exchange occurs way too often with young

moms and their toddlers. In part, that's because this interaction defines the interplay of developmental stages. Chloe, at age two, is beginning to explore her world and her wants. The terrible twos is a reference to a toddler's defiance of authority. It's a naturally occurring quality of Chloe's developmental stage in her childhood. At age 26, Jasmine is in her own developmental stage crisis. Several years ago, developmental theorists identified a new stage that occurs between adolescence and adulthood. We call it Odyssey. As the term suggests, people from age 18 to 30, are on a journey with multiple changes. They contend with multiple schooling,

housing, roommates, jobs, and relationships. When their newborns enter the picture, they are not mature in their own identity and neither is their child. This is a main reason for child abuse and neglect when young parents haven't fully yet grown up themselves. Be aware of your own and your child's developmental stage influence. Use your active listening skills to both calm her down

and to understand her feelings. Make time for your sense. at some point daily, giving you respite and ability to calm with This Two Shall Pass. Where possible, use your own network of family and friends, delegate, and plan ahead. You can multitask successfully if you use the resources available to you. Who knows, a budding catastrophe could become a teachable moment. I'm Dr. Jonathan C. Robinson, licensed clinical psychologist and Christian author of the book Teachable Moments Building Blocks of Christian Parenting, and this has been Teachable Moments.

Teachable Moments, Building Blocks of Christian Parenting is available online at AmazonBooks.com and in local and national bookstores. More on Dr. Robinson at TMC-P-I-N-C.com.