Did you know that many of the qualities needed for effective parenting, such as resilience, self-containment, and relaxed maturity exist within the realm of practicing patience– a parenting commodity in high demand, and often short supply.

I’d like to offer you a couple tips for increasing your supply of patience when the demand increases! These tips include ideas for boosting your store of resilience and your ability to stay self-contained under high velocity stress.

One: Teach by modeling. Refrain from snapping impatiently at your children. Use no-shaming techniques to help child understand that they may need to wait or take some time before a need is addressed or request is fulfilled.

Two: Work with your kids to resolve problems when they are getting antsy trying to deal with something. Help to trouble shoot and think things through together. Use your demeanor to demonstrate patience by example. If you and the kids get frustrated, suggest taking a breather, during which you can get away from the problem for a few minutes to refresh your energy. Then come back together for another attempt.

Three: Practice relaxation techniques that prepare you for patience when your children are trying yours. Teach relaxation skills to the children. Little kids love to daydream. You can try a few minutes of quiet time with them to train them to use this as a patience technique.

With some practice, your relaxed maturity, and supply of patience will grow, and your composed self-containment can become as easy as 1,2,3!