Parenting is a partnership

Parenting is a Partnership!!

I spoke about this topic previously. Yet it is such an important topic, and I would like to re-address it.

Why do I say parenting is a partnership?

A partnership starts with the two of you, and every one of us is unique. We have our own characteristics, our own strengths and our own values and beliefs. When we combine our strengths and uniqueness, we are maximising our focus and energy to achieve our goals.

When you work as a team, you have each other to bounch ideas off, and when things are tough, you have each other to turn to. You share the workload and energy, while supporting each other.

At the same time, by working on the same goal and aiming for the same outcome, this is a fantastic opportunity to create the connection not only with your spouse, but also with your family. You are also creating a well balanced, connected and harmonious family at the same time.

Allow me to show you how this works:

For example, my strengths are:

  •  I enjoy children and fun.
  •  I am nurturing in nature.
  • I can empathise easily with parenting issues, as I come from a background of mixed cultures, values and beliefs, and I have been through it myself.
  •  I am creative on how to connect with my children.

My husband’s strengths:

  • He is tougher in implementing discipline.
  • Calm, assertive and focused
  • More organised
  • Great at inspiring teenagers

This is how we use our strengths

Because I enjoy working with younger children, I focused on their well being when my children were younger. I thoroughly enjoyed being with them when there were in preschool and primary school. I worked closely with them, nurturing their uniqueness, values and beliefs, creating great connections and bonding with both of them. I set up opportunities for the family to bond, and to connect through activities, plus communicate… and much more.

However, when they reached high school, it was a different ball game altogether. They were teenagers; therefore different boundaries had to be set, different values had to be imposed. The quality of conversation and communication had to be reviewed…the whole new level of discipline had to be rolled out, and we had to introduce them to different level of mindset, inspiration and encouragement.

This is where my husband came in. He is more calm and assertive, tougher in discipline, and has the ability to inspire teenagers to be their very best. He is the straight, tough and no nonsense person…so my two children knew where they stood with him.

Do you see how we maximised our strengths?

So now is your turn, get your pen and paper and write down your:

  • strengths
  • your partner’s strengths.

Be honest with yourselves and summarise/list all your qualities in bullet points. This will give you a great overview of recognising of your strengths. Sit down with each other and discuss how you are going to work as a team. Be open and communicate with each other as often as you can, and continually improve on your strategies.

Don’t be afraid to push the boundaries and challenge the ideas, that’s how you move forward and improve as a couple.

It is about the life you create together, how to be a parent that you can be proud of, how to support each other to grow, and be a better person and parent at the same time.

When you are honest with yourselves, recognise your strengths and combine them together, you will achieve much more as parents; this way, you can maximise your energy to better support and grow as a family.

THIS is what I call a PARTNERSHIP!!

I would love to hear your thoughts about how this idea helps your parenting strategies. Share your thoughts, feedback or experiences with us below.