If your child is getting bullied - in the park, in the school bus or at school - you are sure to have a why me moment in which you question why your child gets bullied when there are so many others

It can be very disturbing if your child is the target of a bully or a bunch of bullies - and if you are wondering why they are picking on him - you need to understand that bullies pick on children who feel small.

Bullies pick children with low self-esteem.

Are you shocked to hear that your child has low self-esteem? 

Children often develop low self-esteem and begin to feel small when we constantly criticize everything they do and we constantly compare them with others.

They begin to then feel small.

Even if they are physically big - in their minds they begin to feel small.

And these are the children who bullies are on the look out for.

These are the children they know they will be able to control - because these are the children who are desperate to fit in. These are the children who think being abused and degraded is a way of life.

If you want to keep your child safe from bullies - accept your child for who he is.

Accept him unconditionally.

Tell him that you love him for who he is and not what he does.

Fortify him with your love and acceptance and he will never be picked on by bullies.

A lot of parents I know - feel compelled to look happy and calm all the time in front of their children.

They feel guilty if they lose their tempers and get angry and upset when their children are around.

But this is a classical example of unnecessary guilt.

Children need to be aware of all kinds of emotions.

A truly emotionally healthy child is one who is familiar with both positive and negative emotions and is able to handle both kinds of emotions when he encounters them in himself and others.

A child who has never seen an adult get angry - may be shattered when his teacher scolds him in school

A child who has never encountered conflict at home may not be able to cope when he has a fight with his friends.

In addition a child who has never been exposed to negative emotions - may experience serious guilt when he himself feels angry or sad or upset because he may feel that he is the only one with these terrible feelings.

As parents we want to give our children the best of everything - but however good positive emotions may look - surrounding children in a non-stop flow of smiles and laughter may be harmful as well

One of the cardinal rules of good parenting is honesty

Be honest with your child. Do not pretend.

Your child needs you - just like you are - with your mix of positive and negative emotions. He does not need the person you are pretending to be. 

Children who don't eat - often don't eat because they think - eating is something only they are compelled to do.

They don't eat because they don't see anyone eating

They don't eat because they have never seen anyone enjoying food and the eating process

If you eat with enthusiasm when you are hungry - your expressions of pleasure will make your child hungry

If you are hungry - eat.

Do not wait for your child to finish eating before you begin your meal

You know that antibiotics are used to cure bacterial infections
When you take your child to the doctor he says your child has a viral fever and you should just wait and watch.
Then when the fever does not get better after three days and you go back to him - he starts your child on antibiotics and he promptly becomes alright.
And this happens all the time.

Does this then make you wonder how a viral infection can become a bacterial infection?
Does this make you wonder if your doctor is making a wrong diagnosis every time?
Then this is the video you should watch

In this video - Parenting Expert Dr Debmita Dutta tells you how viral infections turn into bacterial infections and why it is important to consult a doctor and follow his advice.
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​“My child just doesn’t listen!!” Complain parents who consult with me.

“Of course children DON’T listen!!” I say

They don’t listen – simply because they SHOULDN’T listen.

If they listened to us - we would fill their lives with

“mustn’t” “don’t” “shouldn’t” and “can’t”.

We would undermine their courage and confidence and ensure that they never attempted anything that seemed impossible.

But nature wants children to achieve the impossible. Children are born believing that they are unstoppable. They are equipped to block our instructions and disregard our prophecies of doom.




​Because they are armed with the ability to ignore us – children are able to march on and change the world.

Children are programmed to rebel.

When children don’t listen – they are not trying to insult us and purposely make our lives difficult. It is not personal.

Our job as parents is – not to wipe out the rebellion – but to tame the rebellion so that it is productive and not disruptive.
And we can make this happen. We can make our children listen to us – if we understand why they don’t listen.
 
Here is why children don’t listen

We don’t show our children how to listen – We ignore our children when they speak to us

Listening is learned behaviour. Children learn how to listen by watching their parents.

The clichéd “Don’t worry that your children are not listening to you – worry that they are watching you” Holds true here as well
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We must be good role models and listen to our children when they talk.

If you ignore your child when he says something – he will ignore you when you instruct

We don’t give them enough attention – We pay attention only when they don’t listen

A helpless child can only resort to passive aggression to protest against what he doesn’t want or doesn’t like. And the easiest way to do that is to stop listening
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Show your child that he is valued and important by respecting his opinion and wishes at certain times. Rest assured that he will respect your opinion and wishes at other times

We instruct children without ensuring that we have their attention – We don’t respect their work.

We adults are busy – as parents we have so much to do.

But are children free? No. They are busy too.

 What they are busy with may seem unimportant and inconsequential to us adults – but it is important to them.

They are constantly working towards growing up and are engrossed and preoccupied.

Before we speak – we must connect with them by getting down to their level and looking into their eyes. Only then can we hope to be listened to

We use the wrong tone – We either drone on or shout

Children decide whether to listen or not from the way parents speak, and their tone.

When parents constantly drone on with instructions – the monotone prompts children to tune them out. It works best to not lecture, preach, or instruct them forever.  

Children have short attention spans. Short crisp sentences that state exactly what they are expected to do – work best.

Shouting doesn’t help either. Anger is a threat to the child and he immediately shuts his brain down and begins to think of ways to escape instead of listening.

Be interesting!

We use the wrong words

When we begin with an accusatory word like “You…….” a threatening word like “If…….” or a challenging word like “Why…….” Children feel threatened and go on the defensive.

The anger and fear generated by these words cause children to go into non-cooperation.

Think – before you speak
 
We are repetitive and predictable
 
When children don’t listen to us – we repeat our instructions over and over until they are executed.

Children are quick to realise that they will have multiple opportunities to do what they are asked. They know that their parents will ask them several times before they explode with anger

As smart as they are - they begin to wait for the explosion. It becomes their cue to listen.

They begin to listen for the angry voice. They ignore everything before that.

And this becomes a habit.

Don’t become a nag. Say it once. And then allow children to experience the consequences of doing or not doing something.
 

When talking to children remember that they were born to be in charge. Just like you.

Remember that they don’t like being told what to do. Just like you.

Be gentle.

Have you ever felt like running away? I have.

I wanted to run away two days ago – when there was a huge pile of dishes in the kitchen sink. I often want to run away when there is a pile of laundry to fold. And every 6 months or so – when I am exhausted from being the brave working Mom – I feel like running away for a vacation.

Yes – there are times in our lives when all of us feel like running away.

Why do we feel like running away?

The thought of running away is liberating because the physical distance that we are able to put between ourselves and our problems holds the momentary promise of making us feel free.

Running away promises liberty. It makes us feel that not all problems require solutions.

When you run away you feel empowered. You are able to take your life back by putting distance between yourself and the parts of your life that displease you. You imagine that because you are in a new physical space you have left your problems behind.

When we leave we feel like we are in control once again. Leaving makes us feel like we are calling the shots – even in the midst of chaos

Why is it important to stay when we want to run away?

When we make it a habit to change our physical environment to solve our problems – we feel comfortable only when we are on the move. Moving away from discomfort begins to look like the only viable option

We begin to crave the comfort that comes from being in control. And since we know from experience – that the easiest way of taking back control is by leaving the place where the problem is – that is what we do.

Our automatic response to fear and discomfort – becomes to run away.

But fear must be overcome - by challenging and embracing it. Not by running away

The only way to win where others have lost – is to refuse to run away when we are afraid

And this is what we need to model in our lives for children to replicate in theirs

Unfortunately however – with our Parenting we often teach children the exact opposite of what they need to learn.

We teach them that they can and should Run Away

We teach our children that we are powerful when we leave

“If you don’t come – I am leaving without you”

We threaten our children like this all the time. In the park, at a birthday party at the mall.

What this teaches children is – that leaving is the easiest way in which we can exert and exercise power and control.

From us children learn – that the easiest way to terrify and blackmail someone who loves you and coerce them into doing what they don’t want to do – is to leave – to walk away.

They learn first hand how terrible the desperation being left behind is – and when they have the opportunity they skilfully engineer this desperation and use it to their advantage.

In what they know of as the sure fire way to cause desperation - they leave home – they run away

We teach our children how easy it is to escape problems by changing environments

“Don’t go down to play – those children fight with you – just stay home and play Xbox”

“That teacher is terrible – I am going to change your school”

“If you don’t like the dinner that’s served – just eat Maggi”

“It’s really hot – go switch on the A/C”

These are instructions that we give without thinking – because they are the easiest solutions. And with these instructions we teach escapism.

Children are sponge like in their ability to absorb, learn and do exactly what their parents are doing

As parents, we are the role models in our children’s lives. We have to show them – not tell them - how to navigate the problems that the world throws up.

With our thoughtless everyday actions however – often what we teach them is escapism.

Instead - we must teach them that they need to stand up and fight to get comfortable

We teach our children that fear can just be wished away – we need not face our fears

“Stop crying! There is nothing to be scared of! It is silly to cry like this” 

On the first day of school…. at the swimming pool..... whenever things go wrong and our children encounter unhappy feelings – we brush them off immediately.

We teach them that fear is something to be ashamed of. And that no one else is afraid other than them

We convince our children that they are not feeling what they are feeling. As a result they never learn to tackle their feelings and instead learn to constantly run away from them

It is infinitely better in such situations - to say something like this

"I know you're scared, but I will stand with you and together we will face what you are afraid of – until you are no longer scared.”

It is important to embrace the truth and help children work through their confusing feelings.

It is important to overcome our fears and use them as the rungs of the ladder to grow.

 We overreact when our children make mistakes

“How could you do such a thing? What will people say? What will happen now?”

Yes - many of us say things like this when our children go wrong

We forget that mistakes are a part of life. And that a lot of what we learn in life – we learn by making mistakes.

Our reactions to our children’s mistakes determines what our children learn from their mistakes.

A balanced reaction can serve as a learning experience.

An unbalanced reaction can make the child angry, resentful and afraid.

Panicking when our children make mistakes teaches them that making mistakes is not acceptable. And when mistakes happen – instead of owning up to them and trying to rectify them – we must run away from them - otherwise there is chaos.


This is what we must teach our children 

The primitive defence mechanisms of our body and mind will always prompt us to run,
but it is important not to do listen to the run commands that come down to us .......because
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We can run away whenever we want to - but we can never escape

Freedom is magical

Nothing makes you feel as powerful and alive as freedom does. When you are free – you feel like there is nothing that you can’t do.

As parents we want our children feel invincible. We want them to feel powerful.
And for that we need to set them free.

Every child – at every age wants freedom – demands independence and seeks autonomy
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What sort of freedom should we give our children?

Freedom is so easy to demand and so difficult to give - especially when you are a parent.

Letting go of that little hand. Or letting that little face go out of sight, wrings out our hearts and squeezes out our consciences.

It is terrifying to allow our children out into the big bad world and we are scared of letting them out of the fences that hedge them in.

Contrary to what we imagine however, setting children free does not require us to remove all boundaries.

Children in fact do not feel free when they are let out of all boundaries.

When there are no boundaries – children feel exposed and constantly fear for their safety. Their anxiety keeps them from feeling free.

Children feel free – when we define large but firm and inflexible boundaries (depending upon the age of the child) for them.

The railings of the crib for example give a baby the freedom to dream and roll to his heart’s content because he knows he will not fall out. Similarly, children feel free in the park because there are walls that keep them out of the danger from moving vehicles – unlike when they are compelled to play on the road.

Teens constantly push the boundaries that hold them in – but only to make sure that the boundaries are impossible to breach. Only when they know that there are boundaries that will keep them safe – are they able to confidently dream and create.

Children are fully aware of their battle against their own impulses to do things they know are not safe. They know that the odds are stacked against them when they are alone. And when they push against your boundaries – all they are trying to do is, ensure that they are safe.

How much freedom can you give a child without compromising safety?

As we go about parenting our children – every day – almost all the time - we are compelled to choose between what may be good for them (namely safety) – and what may be even better (namely independence).

Should we choose to keep them safe by locking them away from all danger?

Or should we set them free so that they are able to build the skills they require to face and overcome danger?

How do we cultivate our children’s aspiration for independence and autonomy – while keeping them safe?

That is every parent’s daily dilemma.

And when we are faced with this dilemma - it is important for us to remind ourselves that

Only freedom is can ensure safety

We cannot keep children safe by physically attaching ourselves to them.

It is only through engaging with the world that children gain the resources to manage risks. It is only when they encounter the dangers of the world first hand – that they develop strategies to deal with these dangers and learn keep themselves safe.

Overcoming danger and coming out safe – is the only way to develop confidence.

Just telling children about the dangers of the world is useless and counterproductive. It can either terrify them or make them dangerously curious and eager to get into dangerous situations.

The only way in which we can ensure safety for our children – is - giving them lots and lots of opportunities to engage with the world.

The 3 Skills your child needs – to stay safe without you present

The ability to make good decisions – Stop telling children what to do 

Decision making is an art that is perfected with lots and lots of practice.
 
In our enthusiasm to have trophy children who are “perfect” in all that they do – we often constantly instruct children in what they should do and how they should do it.
 
This results in children shutting down their brains because they get used to instructions.
 
A child who is unable to think will be not be able to think his way out of threatening situations and this can be dangerous
 
Allowing children time for free play is one of the most important ways to help them learn and practice decision making.
What do I want to do now? Whom do I want to play with now?
Making such small decisions every day helps the child learn how decisions are made and also that decisions have consequences.


 A well-defined personality – Allow children to be themselves 

In our enthusiasm to see our children as our own mirror images, we sometimes forget that our children are born unique and different from us.
 
It embarrasses us to see qualities in our children that we don’t understand. And it prompts us to constantly prevent children from doing what they want to do and saying what they want to say. As a result of this they grow up with grave doubts about their own thoughts and opinions.
It is important to allow children to grow separate from us. We must allow children to be different from us. We must encourage them to be themselves and have no doubts about who they are, what they think and what they want to do in a given situation
 
Your child will face challenges that are very different from the ones you faced because he has a different personality and is growing up in a different era. He will have to come up with solutions himself. And this will be possible if you have allowed him to grow into an independent person whose personality is not tangled with yours.
 

An degree of immunity to peer pressure – Stop comparing and competing

One of the greatest sources of danger is peer pressure. Children feel pressured to do things that they would otherwise never have done – because they feel compelled to be like their peers.

The seeds of peer pressure are sown by us parents from the moment the child is born.

We compare our child’s behaviour, his skills and everything else to every child we encounter. We tell children that they need to be like everyone else. We convey to them that if they don’t do what everyone else is doing they are inferior and not good enough for us.

It is this habit of comparing that makes our children prone to peer pressure and makes them do things that would never have done otherwise – all because they aspire to be like everyone else

Allow children to craft their own definition of success. Support them when they succeed and also when they fail

Remember the Golden rules of giving your child Freedom

Teach your child not to fear the unknown. Encourage them to explore, discover and conquer the unknown

Infuse confidence and courage in your child. Teach them to be bold. All the freedom in the world is useless unless you have the courage to use it to your advantage.