What is respectful parenting?

Respectful parenting is just as it sounds. It is parenting in a way that treats your child like a human being who deserves as much respect as another adult. This may sound strange as we may be accustomed to speaking to our young children in a childlike manner.

According to Janet Lansbury, respectful parenting can be summed up as an awareness of our children's perspective. It involves viewing them as another person about whom we should avoid jumping to conclusions. In this process, we are encouraged to evaluate ourselves.

What does respectful parenting look like during a pandemic?

1. Begin by practicing age appropriate honesty:

• Many of our children are unsure of the current state of affairs and are in the dark about what is really going on.
• Age appropriate honesty includes giving our children an explanation of what is happening using age appropriate language.
• For example, for a young child we may say, there is a germ traveling around at a super speedy pace. The germ is making people become sick so we need to do things to help protect ourselves.