A Fine Parent

A Life Skills Blog Exclusively For Parents

About Sunita Ramkumar

Sunita Ramkumar is a mother to a teenage son and a daughter who can’t wait to be a teenager! Based in Mumbai (India), she is also a counselor working largely with children and adolescents. Music, dance, books, movies and meaningful personal relationships have been intrinsic aspects of her journey of life. Deeply inclined towards psycho-spiritual spheres, she is on a quest to seek and apply western and eastern spiritual wisdom to modern life challenges including parenting.

How to Raise Kids With Virtually Indestructible Inner Strength

by .
(This article is part of the Strong Kids series. Get free article updates here.)

Inner Strength - MainDid you know that Oprah Winfrey had an abused and neglected childhood followed by troubled adolescence peppered with drugs, teenage pregnancy, depression and even attempted suicide?

Today though, we know her as a larger-than-life figure with more success than most of us can imagine.

And yet, for every Oprah, there are thousands of kids, if not more, who didn’t make it. Oprah’s own half-sister for instance, died of reasons related to cocaine addiction.

Why is this? Why is it that some people have virtually indestructible inner strength that pulls them out of the direst circumstances while others crumble under far less complicated circumstances?

Is this inner strength something we can nurture in our kids?

Maybe our goal isn’t to raise the next Oprah, but can we make sure that no matter what life throws at them our kids will face it like champs and come out stronger for it?

[Read more…]

How the Simple “Law of Reciprocity” Can Make You a Better Parent

by .
(This article is part of the Be Positive series. Get free article updates here.)

Law of Reciprocity - MainImagine this:

You have come home after an unusually busy day, full of errands and your arms stuffed with heavy packages.

You are greeted with a completely messy home with hungry, bored and tired kids. The television is blaring. Dinner has to be prepared.

The kids immediately swarm you, rattling off the day’s highlights, complaints about each other and homework that they need help with.

You dump the packages on the table and try to take stock of the situation. You attempt to simultaneously tell your 12-year-old son to turn down the volume of the TV and your 5-year-old daughter to stop jumping up & down on the new sofa. Both the kids are preoccupied and don’t listen to your repeated instructions.

Just when you think you’ve had enough….your daughter bumps into her brother who pushes her away. She slips and falls to the floor bringing an antique vase down with her.

SMASH!

The TV is the only noise now. Sonny boy smirks and whispers to sis, “Now you’ve done it!”

The little one looks at you with big eyes and is wavering between yelling at her brother angrily and howling in pain, unsure of which one will help her get a lesser penalty!

Such scenes have played out plenty of times at my home (maybe yours too). They have frequently ended with a big fight, a massive scolding, general sulking and me feeling totally burnt out.

But this one time…
[Read more…]