How Single Moms can Give Children the Best Start in Life
In this article you’ll find tips for single moms on ways you can give your children the best start in life.
Every woman is capable of raising her children, teaching them to get along with others and giving them a great start for a life of personal and professional success.
Doing it alone is more difficult, but by no means impossible.
Learning begins at home
Even if your child is due to begin school soon, you can give them a headstart by teaching them at home.
Show your little one how to brush their teeth, wash, comb their hair, get dressed and tie their shoelaces. Although these might seem like little things, they’re a key part of living in society.
There is no need to limit yourself to basic hygiene and personal care routines, however.
Other things to teach kids before they start school include good table manners. Parents can help children express themselves without using bad words or gestures.
Pre-school children also need to learn how to behave in the company of others. Habits such as saying please and thank you can easily be picked up at home.
Here are a few tips, especially for single moms, to help give your children the best start in life.
1. Help your child grow
Growing doesn’t just mean getting taller or going through a growth spurt. It also means gaining wisdom, putting good ideas into practice and learning to think for ourselves.
You can help your child develop an emotional balance that will give them strength throughout their life. Growing as a person means doing better each day, for ourselves and those around us.
2. Teach your child discipline
Don’t be afraid to have high expectations for your children. They should learn that discipline will help them get what they want.
Show them how this quality has helped you give them the best start in life as a single mom, without help from anyone else.
Tell your children that discipline is associated with effort and sacrifice.
None of these are things to be scared of. On the contrary, these characteristics give us strength and show us how to achieve any goal we set out for ourselves.
3. Build self-confidence
Security and self-confidence will help your children develop as individuals without the fear of failure holding them back. If your children know they can always trust you, they’ll be able to concentrate on learning.
Security means having a roof over our heads. It doesn’t mean luxury, just having a home that helps us feel safe.
Giving your child security also means providing the clothes, shoes, school materials, toys, medicines, medical care and entertainment they need.
It means giving advice, listening to their concerns, answering their questions and making them feel important.
Without a doubt, to successfully raise your child as a single mom, you’ll need to help them feel secure.
3 more tips for giving kids the best start
To give kids a good start in life, don’t forget to:
- Give them love. Love is always our best ally, and the strongest bond that unites us.
- Be a role model. Don’t forget to practice what you preach. There is nobody better than you, with all your experience and ideas, to teach your children what they need to know.
- Avoid comparisons. Comparisons always lead to envy, particularly when children are young and haven’t yet developed the emotional intelligence to manage their feelings.
Single moms: a wealth of knowledge
Whether being a single mom was your decision or the choice was made for you by fate and circumstance, use all the tools at your disposal to give your children the best start in life.
Find the way to turn what some see as a weakness into your family’s biggest strength.
We learn more by watching and doing than from theory. There is no school, college or university that can teach us to be the perfect mother.
You know the sacrifices you’ve made and the effort you’ve put into raising your children.
You know you have the ability to be more resilient than anyone else and that you’re the best person to give your kids the right start in life.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
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- Garrido-Rojas, L. (2006). Apego, emoción y regulación emocional. Implicaciones para la salud. Revista latinoamericana de psicología, 38(3), 493-507. https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/805/80538304.pdf
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- Moneta, M. (2003). El Apego. Aspectos clínicos y psicobiológicos de la díada madre-hijo. Santiago: Cuatro Vientos.
