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Yes, a connected approach to parenting takes more time when your kids are little.
It means investing in their emotional worlds and helping them understand them and cope with them without shutting them down.
But it also means less time feeling terrible about the way you reacted to your children. AND it means less time trying to repair broken trust when they are older.
Investing in your children is time well spent, and the beautiful relationship you will develop will absolutely be worth it.
The most helpful way for a child to understand boundaries is to model it for them, and as parents, we should also honor some of our children's boundaries as well to protect connection and safety, not power.
Learn how to support your child when they feel jealous with these 3 essential steps - empathize, regulate, and guide - to help them understand and cope with this normal and complex emotion, in this insightful video.
The idea of toughening up your children to deal with the world only makes you their first bully, stripping them of their sense of belonging with you; treat your children with respect and connection so that they instinctively protect themselves from unkind and cruel treatment.