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Managing Expectations - What Is the Best Way
For Parents To Help Their Children Become
Their Best
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All parents have dreams for their children. And I am a firm
believer that dream is important in setting up our children to
succeed in life.

For some, it’s dreams of their children being engineers,
doctors or growing up to be concert pianists or professional
sport men and women. For others, it’s dream of their children
being the first in their family to graduate from the university
or to earn a doctorate.

The common thread through all these dreams is children
growing up to fulfill their parents’ expectations of success.

To some extent, all parents pass on these dreams to their
children in the form of expectations. Many parents believe
that passing on a sense of high expectations to children is
one way parents help them to develop their self-esteem,
confidence, good life value and standards. However it is
important to know too much expectation to succeed can be
harmful, in some cases as damaging as telling children they
are not good enough. The key is to strike a balance.

Expectations fall into two main areas:

- behaviors and

- achievements

Behaviors are the character traits parents want their children
to develop or exhibit, such as courage, hardworking,
respectful, compassionate, good manners and responsibility.

Achievements usually are either academic (school
performance) or recreational, in activities such as music, art
or sports which meant to bring fun and enrichment to life.

Knowing what should be expected of a child at any given age
is a good start toward setting reasonable expectations.

Know That Special Something In Your Child

In setting expectation for their children, parents first need to
be realistic and know well about your children’s strengths
and interests. What are they good at? What are their skills?
After that, parents then create an environment that support
and cultivate them.

Setting realistic expectations based on a child’s strengths will
go a long way toward building the kind of confidence that is
essential to long-term successes.

Parents need to consider what it is that they want for their
children and whether how they act on those expectations will
actually help their children achieve those goals.

All parents want their children to grow up to be happy,
healthy, and with the right mind set and character traits for
success. Setting high expectations is one way many parents
think they are working toward those goals. But if children are
pushed to perform at levels for which they are not ready, the
result will be the opposite of what parents want. Instead of
developing confidence, children may become afraid of taking
risks. And instead of being proud of their accomplishments,
children can begin to feel like sources of disappointment for
their parents.

Parents Need To Listen To Their Children

Children will let parents know when they are overwhelmed,
either directly or indirectly.

They'll tell you if something is too difficult or challenging for
them. When parents hear children say something like "I hate
studying" or "I hate the piano, that’s a clear sign to step
back and ponder over what has gone wrong and what is the
best way to handle the situation.

For example, instead of keeping on nagging at them or
reprimanding the children, parents can reflect upon their
own parenting styles or have a heart to heart talk with their
children. The goal is for children to be self-motivated, so
proceed slowly and listen carefully to what they are telling
us.

Parents should build on children’s strengths and offer
support. In doing or learning anything, children will definitely
face with some kind of challenges or struggles. In fact,
knowing how to handle challenges is what make our children
grow. Let your children struggle as long as they're happy
struggling. However, when if they're uncomfortable, show
them you'll help them when they ask. You want to offer
positive, helpful encouragement. Sometime. just by being
physical presence with them is a an excellent way of showing
your support.

What It Takes For Your Child To Become Successful
In Life

We all want our children to do well academically and to
become successful in life. However parents need to know
that to achieve success, it goes beyond just getting good
academic result.

In fact, it’s the smartest kids who often fall apart at the first
sign of failure. Being smart isn't necessarily going to help our
children. But knowing how to pace themselves, how to keep
going when they're completely stuck, and how to ask for help
will

It’s those life lessons, not academic knowledge or recreational
skills, that will have the greatest effect on their lives. For
example qualities like hardworking, respectful, compassionate,
perseverance, and responsibility.

Parents need to make sure that their children acquire those
skills which are more important in the long run than
whether their kids get As on their school report card or win a
sport competition or a contest.