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Teaching our Children

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Teaching is quite likely the most essential aspect of parenthood. It's not simply teaching kids their ABCs or how to lace their shoe up, it’s teaching them about values, good decision-making, and life lessons that they will have for their whole life. The NEPEM model emphasizes "teaching" as an obligatory aspect of being a good parent because it shapes a child's worldview and his/her place in the world. Parents are a child's first and most important teachers, and what they pass on by default or by intention is stored in memory that will never fade.   We studied in our parent education class that teaching is so much more than conveying information. Modeling, staying consistent, explaining rules, and encouraging reflective thought are all functions of teaching. As the BYU-Idaho parenting manual outlines, teaching is a process that occurs in the everyday moments. By calmly negotiating a fight between two children or guiding a child through disappointment when losing a...
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Empowering our Children

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Empowering children is not about pushing them along, it's about giving them the tools, intelligence, and confidence to make decisions, resolve disagreements, and become masters of their lives. Empowerment, which the NEPEM model illustrates, is one of the most vital parenting skills to bestow upon your child individual power. Empowered children are self-sufficient, strong, and wise decision-makers, all of which they will need to live a contented life.   In our parent class, we learned that empowerment begins at home in the everyday interactions and choices. One of the most important points in the BYU-Idaho parenting guide is that empowerment is living in an environment where children are allowed to experiment, provide input, and be a part of family life in a positive way. This means providing youngsters with the autonomy to decide, but decisions will lead to mistakes because mistakes are a natural and essential component of learning. A great way of doing this is to involve children ...
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Nurturing our Children

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We all hope our children are loved, safe, and cared for as parents. Perhaps the most significant thing I have learned in this course is that loving isn't enough when it comes to nurturing, it's about creating a space where children feel free to learn, grow, and explore. Nurturing relationships are built on warmth, responsiveness, and care that is consistent. Nurturing, the NEPEM model explains, is a foundational competency that applies to every aspect of a child's development. Research has demonstrated that early relationships form the basis of future learning and emotional well-being. Shonkoff and Phillips discuss in From Neurons to Neighborhoods that responsive and stable care for children promotes the healthy development of the brain. That is, day-to-day, normal activities, such as looking your child in the eye, cuddling, talking to your baby, or answering when your child cries; can do a great deal for their well-being in later life. One of the strategies that we came ac...
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