How to be a Cool Parent Without Sacrificing Good Parenting

Every parent wants to be the best they can be for their child, helping to guide them through life while maintaining a positive relationship. Being the magical “Cool Parent” is the long sought-after goal of many. But how do you achieve “cool” status without becoming a doormat – or worse, a bad parent? We’ve got three parent involvement tips to get you started.

1. Provide fun incentives and rewards

Work with your child to address some of their personal and school related goals. Let them help decide what these goals should be, and also what their reward should be for completing them. Including them in the decision making process helps them feel more involved, and providing an enticing rewards system will bring a new fun factor into otherwise dull or difficult tasks.

2. Communicate openly

It’s time to lock away the phrase “because I said so”! Being able to communicate with your child is an important factor in building trust and respect. Always let them argue their positions, listen to what they have to say, and provide your own detailed reasoning for why they have to or can’t do something. Through communication, a collaborative decision can be made that will help your child feel respected and involved, while still maintaining proper values and rules.

3. Don’t solve their problems for them

Not every problem your child faces will need intervening from you. Being too nosy in your child’s life will make them feel like you don’t believe in their abilities – and that is not what cool parents do! Let them learn to make their own decisions and develop character. However, a cool parent is always there to help when they’re needed. Instead of giving them the answers right off the bat, help guide them through the problem so that they can come to the conclusion themselves.

Using these methods, you can be the cool parent that your kids trust and respect without letting them have free reign of the household. Online high schools have the potential to make the relationship between parent and child a bit stressful, but it could also make the relationship even stronger. Being a cool parent doesn’t have to mean being a bad one – you can still be fun while remaining respected and understood!