Psychology
7 Signs You're a Better Parent Than You Think
Full video
43 min100coins≈ $1.00
Unlock for 100 coinsPay once. Yours to keep.
Late at night, Channy sits awake asking herself if she did enough for her daughter today. If you worry like her, that may be the first sign you are a good parent. This video walks through seven signs, from saying sorry after a mistake to the moment your child runs to you, so you can count how many you already have.
Key takeaways
- Worrying that you are a bad parent is often a sign that you care. Donald Winnicott wrote that a child does not need a perfect mother, only a "good enough" one.
- Every parent gets it wrong sometimes. Edward Tronick's research suggests that what matters is coming back and repairing the connection, and that is how children learn to trust.
- Children often save their biggest feelings for the person they feel safest with, so a meltdown with you can be a sign of trust.
- Knowing the small things about your child and answering their small "serves" every day helps build their young brain.
- Saying "no" with warmth is love too: warm and firm parenting is linked to better outcomes for children on average.
- Still learning, and running to you when scared, are signs too. Be as kind to yourself as you are to your child.
Was this video helpful?
Full video
43 min100coins≈ $1.00
Unlock for 100 coinsPay once. Yours to keep.
Full video chapters
Sources
Original from: Cypher original
D. W. Winnicott, "Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena", Int. J. Psycho-Anal. (1953)
Tronick, Als, Adamson, Wise & Brazelton, the still-face study, J. Am. Acad. Child Psychiatry (1978)
Tronick & Gianino, "Interactive Mismatch and Repair", Zero to Three (1986)
John Bowlby, A Secure Base (1988); Mary Ainsworth, Infancy in Uganda (1967)
Diana Baumrind, "Effects of Authoritative Parental Control on Child Behavior", Child Development (1966)
Psychogiou et al., self-compassion and parenting, Mindfulness (2016)
Up next
