Parenting Tips to Empower Parents to Interact Positively with Their Child

Tara Paterson
• Trust your feelings about how to parent your child. There are no experts, only people who can offer you advice. The expert is you and every child is unique in their experience.

Honor your child’s natural abilities. Every child is unique and needs to be recognized for the values they have within themselves.

Be willing to be flexible while correcting your child. Punishments handed out while feeling frustration or anger are usually overreactions to how we are feeling in the moment.

Set firm boundaries with your child if it is necessary, but remember not everything is a crisis.

Be willing to acknowledge, accept, and apologize for overreacting in a situation with your child. When you are willing to admit you are wrong, you show your child how to correct their own mistakes. They will respect your authority when they are doing something inappropriate.

Honor your child’s feelings about a person or experience. Whether a child misperceives the way something is said or done is irrelevant if it provokes emotion for your child. Adjust according to how your child feels; you will show your child you respect what they have to say and they will respect you for trusting their emotions.

Feel free to set limits with your child. Be willing to pass on performing a task, simply because you feel you have to. Doing something in the space of not wanting to, will lead to resentment later when you feel tired or burnt out.


Embrace your desire to do something for yourself. When your needs are met, you will have more energy and patience to do the things your children want you to do. You must first nurture your own needs so you can nurture the needs of others in your life.

When you are feeling emotion or upset within yourself, acknowledge the emotion and shift the feeling before you interact with your child. We all feel anger and frustration at times, but just as we teach our children not to take out their frustrations on things, animals, or people; neither should we.

Honor your child’s natural rhythm. Children are often rushed to do too much in this day and age which often causes their bodies stress and confusion. Give them a say in free time activities and be willing to change plans if it will bring more peace to your family.

Encourage your child to make choices. Choices allow your child to have independence and makes learning more meaningful. Explain to your child that every experience comes with a choice and assist them with making healthy ones.

Enjoy each moment and the rest will come.



2007 by Tara Paterson, Certified Parent Coach

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Tara Paterson

Tara has been building bridges with moms and families for many years. Her passion first revealed itself with JustforMom.com, a web site business with advice, ideas, and resources designed to "touch each Mom´s life, one Mom at a time." She went on to create Moms In Print, a resource to assist, educate, and guide mom writers to realize their dream of being a published author; and in July 2004, Ms. Paterson launched her 501 (c)3 non- profit concept- the Just For Mom foundation. The Foundation was involved with projects that involved a grassroots effort to support the Reading Rainbow; the creation of the prestigious Mom´s Choice Award®; and is the recipient of a portion of the proceeds from the Chicken Soup series - Chicken Soup for the Mother and Sons Soul.

Tara received her parent coach certification in 2007; was a long time columnist for Children of the New Earth, an online publication; and is an expert blogger for the Partnership for a Drug Free America. She recently launched the blog- BestProductsforParents.com with co- founder Evan Farmer (host of TLC's While You Were Out and CMT's Top 20 Countdown).

She is the co-author of the book- Raising Intuitive Children (New Page Books, May '09) and is a national spokesperson.

Tara was nominated as the 2002 Entrepreneur of the Year by the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce, and was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year in 2003 by a Northern Virginia networking group.

She has been seen on CNN, the Today Show, the Early Show, 48 Hours and has been featured in the Washington Post, Newsweek, the Purcellville Gazette, the Loudoun Magazine and quoted in the USA Today and Parenting Magazine.


Tara Paterson is available for private coaching, presentations, lectures, and workshops. To find out more, visit her ParentingIntuitives blog.

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