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10 questions that successful parents ask themselves

No matter how old you are, do your parents sometimes get on your nerves?

Do you feel like you learn more from your parents what not to do if you want to be a good parent, rather than what you should actually be doing?

I'm guessing that you answered "yes" to at least one of those questions.

Parenting is clearly an awesome responsibility that involves an incredible amount of hard work.

It definitely isn't easy to be a great parent!

Parents have good intentions, but they do make mistakes

Since writing my book, The Happy Student: 5 Steps to Academic Fulfillment and Success, I've had the privilege of speaking to and working with thousands of students and parents.

I also offer a mentoring programme where I work with students to help them maximize their education and pursue excellence.

Through all of these interactions, I've come to realize that, despite their good intentions, parents often do things that confuse, annoy, anger or frustrate their children.

I'm not a parent myself, but I've noticed the mistakes that parents make in trying to raise happy and successful children.

I've also observed what successful parents do differently.

Based on these observations, I've come up with a list of 10 questions that all successful parents ask themselves.

(Just to be clear, I'm writing this article from a child and a student's perspective. Also, to avoid repeatedly writing "he or she," I'll assume that the child I'm referring to is female.)

1. Do I want what is good for my child or what is best?

(This point is inspired by this excellent article.)

It's natural for parents to advise their children to pursue the safe, predictable and practical route.

Parents do this because they don't want their children to experience uncertainty or discomfort.

This is the good path. But is it the best path?

In most cases, no. The best path is usually the one that's full of challenges, obstacles and disappointments.

It might even be full of the "f" word: failure.

Successful parents distinguish between "good" and "best," and continually encourage their children to choose "best."

2. Do I measure my success as a parent by the quality of the relationship, or by how effectively I can control my child?

Successful parents understand that it's more important to build a relationship with their child than it is to find innovative ways to control her behavior.

Just because your child obeys your instructions doesn't mean that you're a world-class parent. It just means that your child is obedient.

If this obedience comes at the cost of your parent-child relationship, the tradeoff might not be worth it.

3. Do I speak to my child as if she is destined for success?

Let's say that your child does something bad. She steals a pen from the school bookshop.

How would most parents react?

Most parents would say to her, "How could you do something like that?! You're such a bad girl. You're so dishonest! I'm ashamed that I'm your parent. I'm going to punish you!"

Successful parents, on the other hand, say something more along the lines of this:

"I'm surprised that you would do something like this. You're usually such an honest and well-behaved girl. I would never have expected you to do this. I'm still going to punish you so that you'll learn from this mistake, but this is really so unlike you."

Children have a strange way of becoming what others' view of them is—especially their parents'.

If you speak to your children as if they're destined for success, it's more than likely that they'll live up to the good name you've already given them.

4. Do I say the following things to my child?

  • "I'm proud of you."

  • "I believe in you."

  • "You can do it!"

  • "I'm there for you."

  • "I love you."

  • "I'm sorry. I was wrong."

  • "Will you forgive me?"

  • "Thank you."

  • "What do you think?"

Successful parents do.

5. Am I trying to make my child successful just so that I will feel successful?

It's difficult to measure the success of a parent, which explains why many parents subconsciously decide that they'll measure their own success by how successful their children become.

This can be very unhealthy, because parents can force their own—sometimes narrow and restrictive—definition of success on their children.

Winning parents deliberately define success for themselves, and allow their children to do the same.

6. Do I recognize that I'm responsible to my child and not for her?

Parents often think that they're responsible for their children.

Responsible for their academic performance, for their behavior, for their social etiquette.

But no—parents are only responsible to their children.

Parents are responsible to their children by giving them love and support and a good home environment.

Children are entirely responsible for their own lives.

If your child misbehaves in school, she's the one who will be punished, not you.

Successful parents recognize that they aren't responsible for their children, so these parents don't carry a burden that they were never meant to carry anyway.

7. Do I model the behavior that I want my child to exhibit?

An example: Most parents want their children to be curious and to love learning.

If you're a parent, when was the last time you talked to your child about something you learned recently that you thought was really fascinating?

8. Do I focus more on what my child does or on who she is becoming?

This anonymous quote sums it up:

"Many succeed momentarily by what they know; some succeed temporarily by what they do; few succeed permanently by what they are."

Winning parents empower their children to pursue permanent success.

9. Do I end every lecture with love?

When parents reprimand their children, the message of love doesn't always get communicated.

Successful parents, on the other hand, conclude every lecture with a reminder to their child just how much they love her.

They end with love, not anger or disappointment or frustration.

10. Do I ask my child to make a commitment, or do I force her into doing things?

Winning parents understand that every great student, musician, athlete, entrepreneur, technician, salesperson, etc. came to a point where they made a commitment to greatness.

Commitment involves making a choice. You can't force someone to be great.

That's why successful parents don't coerce their children into taking action.

Instead, they allow their children to make choices and to take responsibility for those choices.

In closing...

Parenting is an unbelievably noble calling.

To all you parents (and future parents) reading this, I know you're up to the challenge.

Daniel Wong is a learning and personal development expert, as well as a certified youth counselor. A sought-after speaker and coach, he is also the best-selling author of "The Happy Student: 5 Steps to Academic Fulfillment and Success". He offers programmes to help students attain exam excellence while also finding happiness and fulfillment, and to empower parents to motivate their unmotivated teenagers. He writes regularly at www.daniel-wong.com. Download his FREE e-books, "The Unhappiness Manifesto: Do You Make These 150 Mistakes In The Pursuit Of Happiness?" and "Singapore Scholarship Guide: The $500,000 Decision". The views expressed are his own.