How to Help Your Kids Be Responsible
Email 1
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Subject Line: How to Help Your Kids Be Responsible, Part One
Parents,
Do you ever get frustrated trying to teach your kids responsibility? Have you replaced your child’s school supplies over and over? Are you reminding them to clean five times a day? Nurturing responsibility into the hearts of children is not for the faint of heart.
We believe in the power of inspiration, which is why we offer you an Online Parenting Class. Only three minutes, you can watch this video while you wait for your kids’ game to start or sit in the carpool line.
Parenting kids is a wild adventure with highs and lows. As you ride the roller coaster, we cheer for you.
https://vimeo.com/parentministry/review/335462738/5d227cd62e
Children’s Pastor
Email 2
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Subject Line: How to Help Your Kids Be Responsible, Part 2
How do we help our children be proactive and finish their chores? How do we teach them to get ready for school on time? How do we guide them to follow through with commitments? It all boils down to responsibility.
This month’s 3-minute Online Parenting Class gives you some guidance and encouragement on how to raise responsible kids.
You are not alone in the parenting adventure. We are here to support you. You have got this!
Children’s Pastor
Video Script
How to Help Your Kids Be Responsible
Welcome to this month’s online parenting class. This month we get to talk to parents of
kids and teens. You are all amazing and we love these months when we get to talk to
parents as a whole. There are some things that your children need help with no matter
their age and this topic is one of them.
This month we want to help you raise kids and teens that are responsible! I think I just
heard a collective “amen” from all parents because this is a real struggle for all of us.
How do we help our kids be proactive and actually finish their chores? How do we help
kids get ready for school on time? How do we help our children follow through with their
commitments? It all boils down to responsibility and responsibility is something that
takes time to develop. The good news for you as a parent is that it can be learned even
if your child wins the most irresponsible child of the year award.
Before we share some simple responsibility tips let me just remind you about one
important step we have to take as parents when teaching responsibility. Staying angry
about your child’s irresponsibility is no help when it comes to teaching responsibility. So
often we take all this so personally. We actually believe our kids are trying to drive us
crazy when the truth is, most of the time, kids and just being kids. Responsible behavior
is learned and does not come naturally. The more you stay calm in the process the
more influence you will have and the more lessons you will be able to teach!
Be clear about your expectations and stand by them calmly.
If you want your kids to be more responsible with school, with chores, or with their
sports teams then you are going to have to make your expectations crystal clear. Most
of the times we have expectations that we assume our children understand and then
when it all falls short we blow up. Let your children know what you expect and then
stand by your expectations calmly as they learn.
Allow your kids to suffer the consequences of not being responsible.
We all tend to want to save our kids from the consequences of not being responsible,
but the only way kids and teens ever learn from their irresponsibility is to deal with the
natural consequences. Allow them to get points taken off their grade. Don’t allow them
to go to the movies if their rooms are nasty and not cleaned during the week. Let the
coach bench them when they make poor choices. Let your kids fail when they are being
irresponsible and they will start learning the benefits of responsibility.
Find hacks that help your child be more responsible.
You know your children better than anyone else so look for hacks (easy solutions) that
will help your child be responsible. Every person is unique and needs different
motivators to help them become responsible. Find what motivates them and leverage
that to help the process. Look for ways to encourage them and teach them.
We all want more responsibility from our children so let’s do something different. This
month try putting some of these tips to work and see if things begin to improve.
Texts/Tweets
TIP: Choose a hashtag for your tweets and use it consistently. That will tell Twitter to store a list of your tweets on one place for later reference.
Tweet One: Responsibility is a learned character trait, much like riding a bike. To nurture responsibility within your kid is trial and error. Offer patience, understanding, and consistency.
Tweet Two: You can nurture responsibility by looking for ways to motivate your kid unique to their personality.
Tweet Three: Communicate clearly, set expectations, stay consistent, and let natural consequences do the work of nurturing responsibility.
Tweet Four: A parent who remains cool, calm, and collected while nurturing responsibility in kids creates more opportunities for conversations.