How To Be A Great Parent

The behavior of parents is more important in helping students resist the use of alcohol and other drugs than learning to resist peer pressure. This is very important!

The greatest assurance that your kids won't use drugs is for you as a parent to be the model yourself. "What you are speaks so loudly that I can't hear what you say." It starts when the mother is doing drugs while she is pregnant. It has been proven that alcohol and other drugs can damage the baby before it is born.

Let's put this principle into effect and influence your children in a positive way. It doesn't matter what you say about the danger of drugs but by the behavior exhibited by the parents. Let me share with you what I mean: You come home from work and you have a headache. You complain in front of your children and take some aspirin. What message are you sending to your children?

Now there is nothing wrong with taking aspirin for a headache, but go into the bathroom to take the aspirin, where the kids won't see you. When they see you do things like that, they think taking a pill is what to do when you don't feel good.

You come home from the office after a hectic day and you're tired. The first thing you do is go to the refrigerator and get a bottle of beer. You might say something like this, "Boy that beer tastes good. I've been thinking about it all day." This happens just about every day. What message are you sending to your kids when they see you do that? The answer is, they don't see anything wrong in drinking beer. If you want to have a beer after work, don't drink it in front of your kids. The same thing can be said about smoking.

Going back to being the model yourself has to do with your attitude. The attitudes that you have right now are a result of what has gone into your mind all of your life -- the upbringing you've had, the love you've had from your parents or guardians, the teachers you've had , the kids you've played with, the friends you have now, and the people you now work with. We have been programmed either positively or negatively. Attitudes are nothing more than habits of thoughts. If we want to change them, we can!

How are attitudes expressed? They are expressed by the way we act, or our behavior. William James, that great Harvard psychologist said, "You can alter or change your life by altering your attitudes of mind." What he is really saying is, "Behavior is nothing more than an outer expression of an inner attitude." So, if you want to change your own behavior or if you are a parent, teacher, coach or supervisor, and you want to influence your kids, you need to go back and start putting the positives into your own mind as well as your kids.

Influence your kids in a positive way by giving compliments and expressing your love for them.

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