Building a Positive Relationship with Your Children

Written by Jana Angeles

Building positive relationships with your children is important because it allows you to nurture their growth and development while they are in their early stages of life. When you’re a single parent, this becomes the foundation of how you build your family ties while also maintaining trust, love and support. Obviously, positive relationships with your children do not happen quickly and overtime, you will need to learn how to commit and understand their needs and wants.

Though you may be on your own and have separated from your partner, it doesn’t mean this should get in the way of how you establish positive relationships with your children. Patience is key when it comes to this and it’s honestly about your attitude and the perspective you choose to take when raising your children. Here are some ways to help you think about how you can strengthen your existing relationships with your children:

Build their trust

Trusting one another is key in any relationship but it’s important to have that with your children. They look up to you in everything you do and value your thoughts and opinions on various things. If you haven’t felt proud lately of the things you’ve done, it’s time to reflect and look back on what you can change to help strengthen that trust. You may have some bad habits you need to give up or improve in areas such as being honest when it comes to a particular situation you face. Trust is the glue to your relationship with your children and it can build some really important groundwork in times where they need more of your guidance as they face some difficult times.

Communicate with them

If you have committed to a new relationship or have taken up an activity which requires time away from your children, you need to be able to be open when it comes to these changes. Communication is key and it helps them gain insight on the type of person you are. You may struggle sharing aspects of your life to your children because you may feel that they are not ready to hear what you have to say, which is completely okay. However, it’s important to acknowledge that they are a big part of your life. Communicating with them on the changes that happen in your life is important because it shows that you aren’t leaving them out of anything.

Don’t make promises you can’t keep

This one is a big one but if you can’t commit to something then don’t make promises you can’t keep. Although children are young, they are vulnerable to their own emotions and if you don’t have the capacity to commit to something 100% then don’t do it at all. Your children are placing

great trust in you in meeting their needs and wants, but you also have to be realistic and truthful to them when you need to be. As a single parent, it’s understandable that you may have a restrictive schedule when it comes to committing to certain activities or plans you may have wanted your children to be involved in. However, you need to be aware of your own limits and commit to the promises you make.

Nurture their talents

Your children are talented in their own way. They may be logical or artistic – that’s just who they are when it comes to their interests and also what they are good at. As a single parent, being able to manage your time and investing in these talents takes a lot of hard work and sacrifice. You may want to enrol them in art school or have plans in saving money for their higher education. It’s important that you consider their future and with a single income, you may need to take on extra work to help build the funds to invest in their future careers. Not only will this help them professionally, this will make them understand the sacrifice you went through to pursue something which excites them and is fulfilling.

As a single parent, establishing positive relationships with your children is important. Earning their trust, communicating better and encouraging them to pursue their talents are all ways which can help you strengthen the existing ties you already have now. Your children will recognise one day that the sacrifice you have made for them is what lead them into a path of greatness.