In today’s video blog, Andy answers a reader question: What is your parenting advice for single parents? How do you replace a mother or father figure in a child’s life?
You can’t 100% replace the presence of another person, but there are proactive things you can do.
- When Andy’s parents died, he and his 14-year-old sister had to become very intentional about whom they surrounded themselves with and whom they listened to.
- Search for people who can model great choices, thinking, and behavior in a way that you can discuss with your child. Get your children around people who are the kind of people you want your kids to be.
- This is important even if you are not a single parent. You must surround your children with people who can model great standards and hold your children to those standards.
It’s important to let kids know that you are also listening to the people you want them to listen to.
- Make them aware that life is full of people who are better than you at certain things, and that you listen to them so you can constantly improve.
- By modeling the attitude that you want them to develop, they will understand why they need to listen to the people you have placed in their lives. This is much more effective than the “because I said so” strategy.
Are you a single parent? What advice would you offer others in a similar situation?
