Forget about perfect parenting: mistakes are all part of rearing a healthy and happy family
Although it’s only natural for parents to try and shield their children from failure, we all make mistakes. The sooner little ones realise this, the sooner they will be able to live with life’s disappointments and grow in confidence
As a parent, it’s not just OK to be less than perfect, it can actually serve your children well if you do occasionally slip up. Making mistakes is part of the human condition and learning to live with them, how to fix them, is part of the great human challenge.
“All parents make mistakes from time to time. It’s important for their children to understand this and, more importantly, get the chance to observe how their parents deal with those mistakes,” says Dr Quratulain Zaidi a clinical psychologist at Hong Kong’s MindnLife centre.
Forget parenting books, classes and Dr Google: perfect parents don’t exist, so trust your instincts and get to know your children
“Children naturally base much about how they deal with their world on the way their parents have acted and reacted – it’s called modelling,” says Odette Umali, founder of parenting website, Gordon Parenting.
“It’s a powerful tool in teaching kids values. Modelling happens when children witness how parents do things, how they try to make something work, how they succeed or try again when they fail.
“Grit, tenacity and vulnerability are big values and are best imbibed by children when they witness their parents model these values,” she says.
